AIM-listed pottery producer Portmeirion Group (LON:PMP) saw its share price rise by 7.24% to 385p (as of 16:30 BST) despite reporting an 8% drop in sales for the six months ended 30th June. Online sales rose by 90% during the first half of 2020, but this failed to fully outweigh the impact of store closures due to COVID-19. The company expects to report a loss before tax for the period.
CEO Mike Raybould commented: “Given the backdrop of total retail lockdowns around the world for over three months, we are very pleased with our sales performance in the first half and are encouraged by the improving trend we saw in June. Although there remains considerable economic uncertainty in our key markets, we are cautiously optimistic for the second half of 2020. Our brands have over 700 years of combined history and I would like to thank our employees around the world for their great resilience and agility in coping with the challenges the virus has thrown at us. Our priority remains the health and safety of our staff, customers and suppliers. We have continued to increase our investment in our growth strategy including our new product pipeline and online strategy and I believe we will see the benefit from this in the coming months and years“.