Specialist printing chain Printing.com, which has extensive interests in the West Midlands, reported a 5.7 per cent rise in full-year pre-tax profit in the year to March 31 and said revenue this year was ahead of the corresponding period in the previous year.
The company, which has six outlets in Birmingham plus ones in Sutton Coldfield, Wolverhampton and Solihull, said the good performance had been built on the expansion of its network.
The specialist retail chain reported a pre-tax profit of £2.42 million compared with £2.29 million, while revenues rose to £13.48 million from £12.14 million a year ago.
The company declared a final dividend of 2p a share, lifting the total dividend to 3p compared with 2.5p a year ago.
Printing.com said its master licence partners in New Zealand and Iceland continued to make good progress with close to 40 operational outlets across these countries and this boded well for future master licence development.
It is also continuing with its UK expansion, which aims to double its showing during the next three years to around 400 outlets.
The company, which has a huge production facility in Manchester, said that although it was seeing a cautious attitude adopted by SMEs, it regained generally optimistic about its prospects over the current financial year.
Chief executive Tony Rafferty, who founded the company in 1992, said: “Following on from a solid quarter, marking the close of the year under review, trading has softened slightly although it remains materially above the corresponding level for the previous year.
“With more than 90 per cent of Printing.com orders being used by the client for promotional purposes we attribute the softer conditions to the general drop in business confidence within the SME community.”
To mitigate against the cautiousness, the company said it would be adding potency to its monthly offers and promotional campaigns, together with a broadening of its Network Partner programme.
“We remain confident that our unique business model places us favourably against our competitors who are also feeling the impact of the softening market conditions,” added Mr Rafferty.
In reaction, Brewin Dolphin said sales volumes at the company had held up well and cash generation was well ahead of its expectations.
In a note, it said the acquisition of 52 new bolt-on businesses was also significant and ensured growth in the network even in the current difficult economic conditions.
