Oldham-based consumer goods firm Ultimate Products reported lower sales and profit for the year, but said it is seeing a revival of growth in international markets. 

The company, which recently bought kitchen and bathroom scales maker Salter Brands, said revenue for the year fell 6.5% to £155.5 million, hurt by supermarkets holding back orders because of overstocking, weakened consumer demand for general merchandise, and a dip following the air-fryer craze of last year. It said statutory profit before tax fell 10% to £14.3 million. 

“Although weak UK consumer sentiment continues to hold back short-term sales in the UK, we are pleased to see growing momentum internationally, with strong demand for our leading homeware brands being driven by European discounters,” the company said.

“Whilst UK trading remains challenging, we believe that gradually improving consumer sentiment and the significant opportunity in Europe will drive sales growth in the medium term, giving the Board cautious optimism for the year as a whole and hence maintaining its expectations for the current financial year.”

Commenting on the results, Andrew Gossage, Chief Executive of Ultimate Products, said: “This continues to be a challenging period for many consumer-facing businesses in the UK, and we are by no means immune from the overall slowdown in spending and weakness in consumer sentiment.”

“However, our growth strategy of building international sales is yielding positive results. Our new showroom in Paris is proving to be instrumental in developing our presence throughout the hugely attractive European market, where we see significant opportunity with the discounters that are driving strong European sales growth in the current year.”

Separately, the company said Andrew Milne and José Carlos González-Hurtado have joined its Board as Non-Executive Directors and Jill Easterbrook has formally stood down from the Board.