McBride shares hung out to dry as sales knocked by competition
MCBRIDE, the maker of own-brand household and personal care products, posted a three per cent fall in first quarter sales yesterday after deciding to wind down its contract manufacturing business last year.
The soap and laundry detergent company had already warned the City that the exit of its contract cleaning business – which made products for branded companies – would continue to hit sales in the first half of the year.
However, McBride surprised analysts with a lower-than-expected one per cent rise in private label sales, sending shares down 3.86 per cent last night.
The company blamed increased competition in the UK from its branded rivals fighting to match retailers’ own brands on price.
It has instead been focused on developing a range of new products this year to help shore up sales.
“Revenue growth in central and eastern Europe continued to demonstrate a strong performance,” McBride said in a statement.
“Although trading in UK continues to be challenging, the combination of our new product launch pipeline together with cost savings expected to be achieved in the current year leaves the board’s expectations for full year performance unchanged.”