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McBride PLC returned to profit in its just-completed financial year, having been pushed into losses by supply chain disruptions and cost inflation, it said. The stock was up 22% at 31.68 pence in London early Friday. McBride is a manufacturer and supplier of private label and contract manufactured products for the domestic household and professional cleaning and hygiene markets. Adjusted operating profit for the financial year that ended June 30 will be materially ahead of market expectations, it said, thanks to a strong fourth quarter, and at the top end of the range it guided back in April. McBride placed consensus for this at £9.7 million. It had guided £8 million to £13 million, which compares to a loss of £24.5 million the year before. McBride had suffered a pretax loss of £35.7 million in financial 2022, swung from a profit of £10.6 million in financial 2021. Volumes were up 5.4% in the recent year, including 13% growth in the fourth quarter alone. ‘The improvement in demand for our products has been driven by a combination of business wins and strong demand increases on existing contracts,’ McBride said. ‘Across most markets it is evident that there is a shift to private label as a result of consumers’ growing preference for better-value, high-quality, private-label products as they seek to mitigate the effects of inflation on their household budgets.’ Net debt was £166.5 million on June 30, better than the £181 million to £186 million that McBride previously had guided. McBride will release is full annual results on September 19. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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