Warpaint London plc (LON:W7L), the specialist supplier of colour cosmetics and owner of the W7 and Technic brands, announced today that at the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held at 10 a.m. today, Clive Garston, Chairman of the Company, will make the following statement:
“Trading in the year to date has been encouraging and we are particularly pleased with the performance in the UK where sales of our brands for the first five months of the year are up 64% compared to the same period in 2020 and up 18% compared to the same period in 2019, one not impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The growth in W7 UK sales has been assisted by our roll out into Tesco. In June 2020 the Group’s W7 products were in 56 Tesco stores, today they are in over 1,300 across the various store formats, with a further expansion of the W7 full cosmetic displays in Tesco planned for later this year. The Group’s other brands are also performing well in the UK.
“We are also seeing encouraging growth elsewhere. In the US, for example, we have recently completed a trial launch of W7 products in 50 Francesca’s stores where sales have exceeded expectations and we anticipate rolling out product across a significant portion of their 444 store estate later this year.
“E-commerce sales of W7 products across all markets for the first five months of the year were approximately three times the level in the same period in 2020 and we anticipate further significant growth, albeit from a modest base.
“As previously announced, pending approval by shareholders at today’s AGM, a final dividend of 3.0 pence per share will be paid on 5 July 2021 to shareholders on the register at 18 June 2021.
“I am optimistic that these positive trends will continue and with cash today of approximately £6.6 million and no debt, I believe we are well placed to deliver profitable future growth.”
Warpaint London is made up of two divisions.
The largest division sells branded cosmetics under the lead brand names of W7 and Technic. W7 is sold in the UK primarily to retailers and internationally to local distributors or retail chains. The Technic brand is sold in the UK and continental Europe with a significant focus on the gifting market, principally for high street retailers and supermarkets. In addition, this division supplies own brand white label cosmetics produced for several major high street retailers. The Group also sells cosmetics using our other own brand names of Man’stuff, Body Collection, Vintage, Very Vegan, and Chit Chat.
The other division trades in close-out and excess inventory of branded cosmetics and fragrances from around the world.
