• Potential tariffs impact in 2025
• Existing customer numbers increased slightly
• Shares down 26% over the past year

Shares in 4imprint (FOUR) fell over 10% to £42.90 despite the promotional products company reporting a strong set of full year results.

The company saw revenue climb 3% to £1.36 billion and pre-tax profit rise 10% to £154.4 million for the 52 weeks ending 28 December.

It also said it was well financed with cash and bank deposits of $147.6 million compared to $104.5 million last year.

The company’s cash-generative nature helped it complete a $20 million Oshkosh distribution centre on time and on budget.

NO NEW CLIENTS

The company’s failure to win new clients might have spooked investors.

However, existing customer orders increased slightly from 2,090,000 in 2023 to 2,124,000 in 2024.

Paul Moody, 4imprint’s chairman said: ‘In the first two months of 2025 revenue at the order intake level was slightly down compared to the same period in 2024, reflecting continued uncertainty in the market.

‘It is possible that market conditions, including potential tariff impacts, may continue to influence demand in 2025. From our experience, however, as business sentiment improves, demand for promotional products increases as does our ability to gain market share.’

The promotional products company is one of the key players in the $25 billion-a-year North American promotional product market.

UNCERTAINTY FROM TRUMP’S TARIFFS

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell said: ‘Promotional products business 4imprint does nearly all of its business in the US and its latest numbers offer evidence of uncertainty caused by the new administration’s tariff policy.

‘4imprint sells a wide range of promotional products like branded bags, pens, and stationery to companies in North America, but rather than manufacturing the goods it sells, it outsources the work to third parties which means it has limited capital needs. Despite being a leading player, it also has a relatively small share of what is a fragmented market.

‘Sentiment towards 4imprint and its performance have always been closely tied to US GDP so speculation about a recession in the world’s largest economy is unhelpful.

‘This has been reflected in recent share price weakness and today’s results put the stock under further pressure as the outlook statement confirmed the market’s fears.’

Despite the cautious outlook Berenberg analysts remain upbeat about the stock: ‘We expect that thanks to its relationships with tier-one suppliers, its historical ability to managing tariffs, and economies of scale, 4imprint will continue to take market share in full year 2025.’

LEARN MORE ABOUT 4IMPRINT

DISCLAIMER: Financial services company AJ Bell referenced in this article owns Shares magazine. The author of this article (Sabuhi Gard) and the editor (Martin Gamble) own shares in AJ Bell. 

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