Whitemeadow Upholstery resists price pressures despite raw material cost rises; Sales climb 3.8%

2nd September 2009 | upholstery | Nottinghamshire sofa manufacturer Whitemeadow has described its 2008 trading performance as robust, with the firm returning a £268k pre-tax profit from sales of £21.8m.

The manufacturer, which supplies groups including DFS and a number of well known independents, said gross profit margin had been squeezed to 23% from 23.3% and that it was pleased with its performance in managing 'ongoing pressure from customers to maintain competitive sale prices whilst [continuing to] incur worldwide raw material price increases.'

Whitemeadow added that it needed to be watchful of the lack of credit insurance and funding options in the wider market place in the year ahead.

The firm's most successful period in recent years was 2004, when it returned a pre tax profit of £662k on a £19.99m turnover.