Swallowfield returns to profit, refocuses strategy on high growth areas

The strategy will concentrate on the company’s expertise in both innovation and quality, seeing it re-focus its operations on the manufacturing of aerosols, hot pours, hair styling products, cosmetics pencils and fragrances.

According to the company, it has built and developed market leading expertise and a competitive edge in these specific areas of the business that it now wants to further build on.

Concentrating on high growth business areas​

“We have a growth strategy to concentrate on the areas where we are particularly strong and have a proven track record. We are delighted that this refocus has already started to yield positive results,” ​said Chris How, who was appointed Chief Executive of Swallowfield in July last year.

“The strong action taken in re-aligning our cost base and gaining new business has helped us to create momentum in the business and given us a more solid platform from which to build.”  ​

The company says that the new strategy has been developed off the back of a restructuring that has returned the business to profitably, after recently announcing that full year operating profit came in at £130k in 2013, compared to an operating loss of £550k in 2012.

Costs cut putting the company back in the black​

This has meant that the company has managed to reduce its overall debt from £5.5m to £4.6m, and has also been able to secure new credit facilities.

Although revenues were largely flat during the year at £25.4m, the company said that underlying growth was a more healthy 8%, a figure that was achieved mainly through a more efficient sourcing strategy.

The company said that most of the sales growth was achieved through contract wins from overseas, and also underlined that several new contracts signed in the last six months of 2013 are likely to bode well for the financial performance in 2014 and beyond.

Job cuts created a leaner machine​

Back in March of last year, Swallowfield announced job cuts, citing the UK’s economic downturn as the main reason for having to trim the workforce.

The firm is one of Wellington, England's biggest employers; however it had to take various cost-cutting measures towards the end of 2012 and in 2013, including making an undisclosed number of posts redundant.

The business performance also led the manufacturer to announce that the chief executive Ian Mackinnon would step down after 13 years at the helm.