Inspecs, the Bath-headquartered eyewear firm, has said it is currently seeing more encouraging trading following what it called a disappointing end to 2023 and a slow start to this year.
The firm, which designs and manufactures a wide range of spectacles, lenses and frames for worldwide sale, made a pre-tax profit of £200,000 last year against a £7.7m loss in 2022.
Its revenue for the year inched ahead by just over 1% to £203.3m as it encountered tough international markets and the tail end of supply chain issues.
It also struggled to overcome an enforced boardroom reshuffle in 2022 following the resignation of its chair, former Tesco boss and City grandee Lord MacLaurin, and a warning over future sales made at the same time that resulted in its shares losing half their value.
This week the firm, which supplies retailers, distributors and independent opticians, said it delivered record sales in 2023 with an increased number of frames sold, despite a slower than expected end to the year.
Chief executive Richard Peck said: “The progress that we have made in 2023 is now delivering increased distribution of our brands to both key accounts and our independent markets.
“Whilst consumer markets in Europe remain subdued, our businesses are continuing to perform well.”
He said while an adjustment in buying patterns by major global retailers last year caused by the effect of COVID affected its manufacturing business in Asia, the division was poised for further growth in the second half of 2024.
This is as a result of its new, state-of-the-art 8,000 sq m manufacturing facility in Vietnam being delivered on time and on budget, he added.
Meanwhile Norville, the historic Gloucester-based lens manufacturing business it bought for £2.4m in 2020 after it fell into administration, continued to show month-on-month growth with significant new independent accounts and a new key account in place for 2024, Mr Peck said.
Norwegian distributor A-Optikk AS, which Inspecs snapped up for a nominal fee in January, was trading in line with expectations, he added.
Other areas the business, which floated on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market nearly four years ago, is focusing on include new low-vision aids to be launched later this year by Eschenbach Optik, the German eyewear manufacturer it bought in 2020.
It also hailed “significant” new distribution wins with two major US chains which will start in the second half of 2024, the amalgamation of its US operations with its global supply chain and the imminent launch of an Innovative water-soluble bag.
Inspecs was started in London in 1988 by former bond trader Robin Totterman, who later relocated it to Bath.
The stock market, which has taken a dim view of the firm’s outlook – its shares have tumbled by 86% in just over two years – looked on the brighter side this week, with its shares climbing nearly 10% to 52p.
