Business
Trading Update: Ahead of Expectations
Trading Update: Ahead of Expectations.
About this update from Victoria Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n \n RNS Number : 8604O\n Victoria PLC\n 13 October 2021\n \n \n \n \n This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (\"MAR\"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR. \n \n \n \n 13 October 2021\n \n Victoria PLC\n ('Victoria,' the 'Company,' or the 'Group')\n \n \n Trading Ahead of Market Expectations\n \n Half-Year Trading Update\n \n Victoria PLC, (LSE: VCP) the international designers, manufacturers and distributors of innovative flooring, provides the following trading update.\n \n The Board is pleased to announce that the Group's underlying profit before tax will be ahead of consensus market expectations for the financial year ending 2 April 2022.\n \n Trading\n Group revenue continues to increase, driven by strong consumer demand for flooring products:\n \n · Victoria's Italian ceramic business has its full production output now sold out until Q2 2022 - an unprecedented situation - and management are actively working on plans to further increase capacity.\n \n · The UK logistics operation, which is going from strength to strength, continues to provide a compelling service proposition to Victoria's customers, flooring retailers, driving market outperformance in Victoria's UK soft-flooring business.\n \n · Australian lockdowns, the longest in the world, will come to an end in October, and we are anticipating a strong contribution to H2, following a limited, but profitable, contribution in H1.\n \n · The Group's extensive Luxury Vinyl Tile ('LVT') product range continues to grow. After more than two decades in the European market, where it was invented, LVT continues to replace laminates and sheet vinyl as a floor-covering, with the market share of soft flooring and ceramic tiles broadly unchanged for the last 15 years, comprising around 60% of flooring purchased in Victoria's primary markets.\n \n · Victoria's artificial grass business goes from strength to strength. Although there has been sharp price increases in the raw materials for artificial grass, since the pandemic European consumers' preference for locally produced product rather than Far Ea...