THE engine of growth at glassware and ceramics group Waterford Wedgwood, once confined to reverse gear during its troubled period of restructure, is again building up the revs after three years of enhanced profitability.
Group chairman Dr Tony O'Reilly said this week that the group had "shifted gear" with the objective of doubling sales by the end of the century. It is hoped that a reassessment of group activities, coupled with fine tuning existing businesses and further acquisitions, will enable what was termed "the Chairman's Challenge" to be achieved.
The core of the strategy is to add giftware to Waterford Wedgwood's stable of branded products with the group specifically targeting the $7 billion (£4.45 billion) US giftware market. Redmond O'Donoghue, chief executive of Waterford Crystal, says that capturing even a small proportion of the market "would make us very significant".
Preliminary figures this week show a continuance of the recent growth trend. Total group sales rose 6 per cent to £345 million lilting pre tax profits 24 per cent to £28 million.
With earnings per share improving 17 per cent to 3.39p a share, shareholders benefit with a generous 50 per cent increase in total dividend to 1.2p a share.
