Aga Foodservice Group, the UK maker of country-style stoves, said first-half domestic revenue from cast-iron cookers will be flat and sales in Ireland will fall on dropping consumer demand.
"After a bright start, our cast-iron cooker sales are expected to be flat in the UK in the first half and down in Ireland where the market is very weak,'' the Solihull, central England-based company said today in a statement.
Aga sold businesses accounting for almost half of revenue to focus on its Rayburn, Rangemaster and Aga consumer brands. The company is introducing electric, programmable stoves to appeal to a broader customer base as consumer spending slows.
Buying more components from Asia and eastern Europe will help offset rising commodity-price increases and widen return on sales to 12 per cent, Aga said today.
"Trading is mixed and sector data indicates the value of cooker sales has fallen this year in most international markets," Chairman Vic Cocker said in today's statement.
Orders of the company's Rangemaster brand cookers have risen more than 5 per cent this year, while orders at its tiles-and-interiors unit Fired Earth gained more than 10 per cent, it said today.
Bloomberg