Contract and overseas growth softens sales blow for Victoria Carpets

17th June 2009 | carpets | Residential carpet sales dropped 17.5% in the past year for Victoria Carpets, with the firm lamenting the ‘remarkable pace and severity of the global downturn.’

Despite the revenue falls, which it blamed on the housing market collapse, the manufacturer said its strategic decision to grow its contract business had proven to be a strong defensive measure.

A contract to supply carpets for the Hilton International hotel group helped the firm to increase its commercial business by 62.7%, from a low base, to £2.05m, meaning total UK sales fell 10.4% to £24.33m. The company maintains that it is outperforming the wider UK carpet market, which it claims is down 20%.

Away from the UK, a strong performance in its large Australian division meant overall sales for the year to 4 April 2009 were £62.15m – an improvement of 0.7%.

Margins suffered during the period, with total pre-tax profits dropping 58.3% to £1.46m.