- Group sales increased by 25%
- UK revenue increased by 17%
- Year-to-date shares are up 51%
Shares in Warpaint London (W7L:AIM) were on a roll this morning gaining over 11% to 576p as the colour and cosmetics supplier reported a strong first half particularly in UK and Europe.
Revenue for the six months ending 30 June were up 25% to £45.8 million compared to £36.7 million last year.
GOOD NEWS FOR SHAREHOLDERS
Warpaint, which owns the W7 and Technic brands, said UK revenue increased by 17% to £15.5 million and international revenue increased by 30% to £30.3 million, with W7 sales up by 25% and Technic sales up by 34%.
Basic EPS (earnings per share) improved by 67% to 10.37p compared to 6.22p last year. The board also declared an increased interim dividend of 3.5p per share, up 17% on last year.
The company was upbeat about the future saying its expansion strategy was continuing with further planned launches in the second half of 2024.
Warpaint hopes to increase the number of products stocked and outlets globally in the Europe and US.
MARGIN SPARKLE ADDS TO STRONG SALES GROWTH
Analysts at Shore Capital were upbeat about Warpaint’s first-half growth, picking out broad-based branded sales as the driver.
‘We see the first half circa 25% sales growth as a clear example of the scale of Warpaint’s market opportunity in the global colour cosmetics market, though we also focus on the healthy and sustainable margin expansion and strong double-digit profit growth metrics which we view as being highly supportive of a management team that is focussed on profitability and not just vanity sales growth.
‘We have written for several years how immature Warpaint is across its markets, with considerable whitespace opportunities in existing lead markets, and many markets of scale still in the embryonic phase.’
