The 76% full-year pre-tax profits slump at own-label cleaning products manufacturer McBride would have had How Clean is Your House stars Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie donning their rubber gloves in readiness this morning.
With profits tumbling to £7.1m and UK sales dropping 3% to £310.7m in the year to 30 June, anyone would have thought shoppers were choosing to live among dirt, grease and dust rather than spend their hard-earned money on cleaning products.
However, probably disappointingly for Channel 4’s cleaning duo, McBride’s CEO Chris Bull blamed the slump on rising raw material costs and restructuring charges.
Shares in the company were down 5% on the news, but analysts were not unduly concerned.
“We believe that the company is making good progress in restructuring the business, and see continued good growth from McBride’s Central and Eastern European division,” said Damian McNeela and Graham Jones from Panmure Gordon.
Analysts at Investec added: “It is continuing to make progress in recovering costs, although consumer markets remain weak, and with its “Refresh” strategy, which should result in a more efficient business in future.”
Bull insisted trading since year-end had been in line with expectations. Indeed, The Grocer revealed this week that McBride had won a major contract with The Co-operative Group after the society’s own-label washing up liquid supplier Dicom Dalli pulled out of the UK market.
Kim and Aggie can stand down.
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