Royal Doulton sharply reduced its losses in 2000 as the UK chinaware maker continued to restructure.
Pre-tax losses fell 68% from 29.6 million to 9.5 million in the year, although this partly refle…
Royal Doulton sharply reduced its losses in 2000 as the UK chinaware maker continued to restructure. Pre-tax losses fell 68% from 29.6 million to 9.5 million in the year, although this partly reflected 12 million of gains from asset sales. The chairman, Hamish Grossart described the figures as “less than satisfactory”, which was an improvement on his interim judgement of “awful”. Operating losses were reduced from 18.5 million to 14.7 million, although turnover fell from 190.3 million to 182.8 million. The company has undergone extensive restructuring since 1998, reducing net gearing from 100% in June 1999 to 32% at the end of 2000. The restructuring has seen nearly 2,000 employees made redundant and the sale of the company“s head office, as well as its Royal Crown Derby business. The company is revamping its old-fashioned product range, as sales of traditional products have continued to decline. New products represented only 11% of turnover in 2000, a proportion that the company would like to raise to 20%. Royal Doulton“s strategy of investing in both new products and new retail outlets is constrained by its unwillingness to increase debt levels. Waterford Wedgwood, which is Royal Doulton“s main competitor in the UK, holds about 15% of its shares. Waterford said yesterday that it had no plans to increase its stake. Losses per share were 10.5p (versus 52.3p the year before) on an increased equity base. No dividend will be paid.