Warpaint London PLC A positive first half of 2017

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Warpaint London PLC (LON: W7L), the specialist supplier of colour cosmetics and owner of the W7 brand, has today announced its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2017.

Highlights

· Sales up 3.7% to £13.3 million in the half year from £12.8 million in H1 2016

· 8.3% growth in W7 sales

· Gross profit up 3.9% to £5.2 million from £5.0 million in H1 2016

· Operating profit of £2.9 million after additional costs of £0.6 million in the half year relating to PLC, staff, PR and amortisation

· Net cash of £2.5 million at 30 June 2017 (30 June 2016: £1.2 million)

· Interim Dividend declared of 1.4p per share

· W7 brand continues sales growth year on year in all our regions

· Second half has started well with significantly increased Christmas orders to be delivered

· E-commerce strategy for the UK exceeding expectations with the USA now soft launched and China to be implemented by the end of this year

· Very Vegan range successfully launched with initial sales encouraging

· New senior management appointments in sales and product development have integrated successfully into the W7 branded cosmetics business

H1 2016 numbers are proforma with an explanation in the Financial Review

Outlook

With our strong Christmas orders, which are significantly ahead of last year, we are well positioned and confident that we can deliver improving shareholder returns through increased organic growth and improved margins. The business continues to generate cash with no debt to service and the W7 brand continues to grow in global awareness.

Our e-commerce strategy, the launch of the Very Vegan range and increased Christmas business will strengthen our growth plans for this year and beyond, whilst new senior management roles that have been created will ensure we are able to deliver on growth as the business expands further.

Commenting, Sam Bazini and Eoin Macleod, Warpaint London PLC Joint Chief Executives said: “We have had a positive first half of 2017 as the business continues to grow revenue and generate cash with no debt to service. The W7 brand continues to increase in global awareness, in particular as we execute our e-commerce and social media marketing strategy.

“We remain confident of the opportunities in front of us and look forward to growth in both sales and profits in the second half of 2017.”