Portmeirion Group PLC has announced its results for the six months ended 30 June 2026 (“H1 Results”), with the Group saying its ‘elevated’ strategy is progressing at pace as it fixes the foundations for growth.
Of its three hero brands – Spode, Portmeirion and Royal Worcester, the Group says there has been significant activity.
- Spode: Sales growth has been strong (+22.5%), due to strong recovery in the US and new products
- Portmeirion: sales down, due to weakness in the UK and South Korea
- Royal Worcester: focus on preparation for the brand relaunch in 2027, sales marginally up.
Commenting on the Group’s performance Michael Scheepers, Chief Executive, said: “We are delivering against the key milestones set out in our revised ‘Elevated’ growth strategy at the equity raise completed earlier in the period. We have significantly strengthened our leadership team and with a new organisational design now in place we are bringing external best practice to tackle and address legacy issues to ensure the business moves forwards from strong foundations, at the same time as accelerating our pace of execution on our long-term plans. This has included improving production quality and efficiency in our Stoke-on-Trent factory, significant activity developing our three hero brands Spode, Portmeirion and Royal Worcester, and entering Türkiye for the first time.
We have been clear that our turnaround will take time as previous operational and strategic issues surface and are corrected. Our trading performance in H1 was in line with our expectations. Good sales growth in our core tableware business of 4.1% and a strong performance in the USA, Malaysia and International was offset by weakness in the UK and South Korea.
We are seeing improved momentum in the UK in the second half, with active dialogue with several large retailers about new commercial opportunities. We continue to lead the conversation with the UK Government on support measures for our sector and would urge the Prime Minister to convert words to action by providing clarity and guidance on the deployment of the £120m funding pledged earlier this year.
As we look ahead, we have a clear growth strategy and operational targets in place, supported by a strengthened balance sheet and refreshed senior management team to drive delivery of our strategy. There remains much to do! Whilst trading in the second half has started in line with our expectations, we are mindful of the continued macro-economic and political uncertainty and the significant weighting of this next quarter towards our full year performance. We look forward to making further progress delivering on our strategic priorities to build a strong and sustainable business.”
You can read the full report here.