Published: 20 April, 2010
International tanning group Pittards, Yeovil, UK are back in the black with a full year pre-tax profit of £1.6m ($2,4m) compared with a loss of £0.4m (0,6m) in 2008. Revenues for the year to the end of December 2009 fell to £24.6m ($37.4), down from £26.8m ($40.7).
Pittards chairman Stephen Boyd said: ‘I advised the group's return to profitability in my first half-year statement at the post tax level, and I am delighted to report that this profitability carried through for the whole of 2009, despite the sustained global recession.’
Pittards say the continued relative weakness of sterling, and its continued focus on costs helped it to achieve a profit from trading activities of £0.8m ($1.2m) (2008: £1.4m ($2.1m)) despite some loss of volume in the first half of the year.
The group also benefited from an exceptional gain of £1m ($1.5) arising from the acquisition of the Ethiopia Tannery Share Company (ETSC) on December 29 (see Leather International, March page 40), which led to a profit before finance costs of £1.9m ($2.9) (2008: loss of £0.07m ($0.10m). Finance costs were also lower than incurred in 2008, due principally to a lower bank base rate.
Pittards receive royal visit
United Kingdom
Published: 08 December, 2009
Princess Royal visits Pittards
Marcus Young, Innovations Technologist, Pittards informs the Princess Royal about their Keratan range of technical leathers
The Princess Royal officially opened the new marketing suite at UK based tanners and leathergoods manufacturers, Pittards on December 7. Prior to the unveiling the princess toured the tannery at the company headquarters in Yeovil, Somerset to observe the manufacture of bovine side and small skin gloving leathers which are both manufactured on the single site.
Among the invited guests and civil dignitaries attending the event the Ethiopian Ambassador to the UK, Berhanu Kebede, was also present following Pittard’s announcement last week of the acquisition of the Ethiopia Tannery Share Company tannery. Pittards had previously been managing the tannery located outside of Addis Ababa for the past four years. ‘Pittards have been doing business in Ethiopia for many years now and the acquisition of the tannery is a symbol of co-operation between the UK and Ethiopia’, Berhanu Kebede told Leather International. ‘We can benefit from Pittards know-how and technology which will allow the ETSC tannery to add value to the abundant raw material which we have and will act as important source of income generation for our country and will hopefully open the door to other like minded companies’, he added.
Once the deal has been finalised Pittards aim to shift more small skin production to the Ethiopian tannery and will concentrate on bovine production and product innovation, sales and marketing at the Yeovil site. The Princess Royals visit was organised in conjunction with the UK Fashion Exports organisation of which she is patron.
‘We see the acquisition of the ETSC tannery as a fulcrum deal in the ongoing development strategy of the business’, Stephen Boyd, Pittards chairman told Leather International. ‘The Princess Royals visit is the icing on the cake for all the recent developments we have made with the business and underlines the Pittards brand as a continuing leader in the manufacture of fashion and technical leathers’, he added. ‘All of this however, could not have been achieved without the continuous and loyal commitment of both our customers and staff.’
The Princess Royal was presented with a number of gifts at the unveiling including a saddle and other leathergoods manufactured using Pittards leathers.
Pittards exchange contracts for ETSC
United Kingdom - Ethiopia
Published: 10 December, 2009
Ethiopian Ambassador to the UK, Berhanu Kebede meeting The Princess Royal at Pittards on December 7
Yeovil-based leather manufacturer, Pittards plc, producer of technically advanced leather and leather goods for sale to retailers, manufacturers and distributors, have announced on December 10, that they have exchanged conditional contracts with the government of Ethiopia for the acquisition of the Ethiopia Tannery Share Company (ETSC).
Pittards is to fund the acquisition through a share placement of new ordinary shares many of which will be taken up by the existing directors and owners of the business. The contract is conditional on the approval of Pittards’ existing shareholders at a general meeting to be held on December 22.
Pittards have a long history of trade with Ethiopia and the purchase of Ethiopian sheepskins for its glove leather production . ETSC is Ethiopia’s largest tannery and has been operated under Pittards’ supervision since August 2005 in return for a monthly management fee and royalty payments. In that period, production quality, efficiencies and methods have been significantly enhanced. ETSC is operating profitably and Pittards intends to transfer more volume production from their UK site in Yeovil to ETSC, freeing up additional resource in Yeovil for more technologically advanced, higher value added leathers-for example for the luxury leathergoods sector.
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