Makeup seller Warpaint London hikes yearly outlook
Warpaint London raises profit forecasts as the AIM-listed cosmetics group sees record first-quarter sales
- Retail chains selling Warpaint products include Boots, Tesco and Wilko
- The company said sales so far this year have already exceeded £16 million
Warpaint London had raised its full-year outlook, with the cosmetics group expecting to report its best-ever first-quarter sales.
The owner of the Technic and W7 brands said sales from early January to March 23 had already exceeded £16 million, up from £13.2 million in the first three months of last year.
As a result, the Buckinghamshire-based company said its full-year outlook is now expected to beat the board’s earlier forecasts.
Outlook: Warpaint London said turnover from early January to March 23 had already exceeded £16m, up from £13.2m for the first three months of last year
Warpaint’s unscheduled Friday trading update comes about a month before the company plans to announce its full-year results.
The group now expects sales of around £64 million, which is £3 million more than previously forecast, and £14 million more than in the previous 12 months.
It also now forecasts a forecast adjusted pre-tax profit of around £10m, after making £6.9m in 2021.
Chief executive Sam Bazini said: ‘We are enjoying strong trading performance across the group, with revenue growth in many territories and online. We also continue to enjoy healthy margins.
“We look forward to the rest of 2023 with confidence and will update further when the Group results are announced in April.”
Purchases of makeup and mascara have recovered significantly in recent years, after sales fell in 2020 due to lockdown restrictions.
AIM-listed Warpaint was also hit by the temporary closure of many stores that stock its products, and online sales remain a fraction of total trade.
In addition to a resurgence in demand, the company was boosted by the launch of more product ranges, both online and in prominent brick-and-mortar retailers.
In the US, the world’s largest color cosmetics market, W7 products have been rolled out in outlets of retailer CVS, Texas-based supermarket chain HEB and discount group Five Below.
Warpaint is also trying to expand its e-commerce presence in the country by selling products on the Amazon FBA platform. In China, it has launched official W7 brand stores on TMall and Xiaohongshu shopping platforms.
Boots and Tesco have started selling W7 branded items in the UK, while Wilkinsons homeware chain stocks products from the Technic and Body Collection labels.
Other UK companies selling Warpaint’s skincare and make-up range include Matalan, Tesco, Asda and Superdrug.
Clive Shore and Darren Shirley, analysts at broker Shore Capital, said: “We see Warpaint as a multi-year growth company, with a customer base in existing markets and healthy international growth in the US and Europe, supported by both store-based and online partners.”
Warpaint London Stocks were 2.9 percent higher at 203.25p late Friday afternoon and are up about two-thirds over the past 12 months.