Marketing products manufacturer 4imprint Group saw its share price take off on Friday as it advised profits for last year would beat its recently-revised estimates.
At £53.80 per share, the FTSE 250 company was last trading 16% higher in end-of-week trade.
4imprint — which makes customised promotional products like mugs, caps, pens and keychains — said that “excellent progress has been made by the Group during the course of 2023, giving rise to a strong financial performance for the year.”
Profit Hits The High Notes
The business tipped sales to come in at $1.33 billion, up 16% from the $1.14 billion it had recorded in 2022.
Pre-tax profit, meanwhile, “is expected to be not less than $140 million,” 4imprint said, “slightly above the upper end of the current range of analysts’ forecasts.”
This would mark a 35% improvement from the $104 million the company recorded in 2022.
4imprint added that its cash and bank deposits stood at $105 million at the year’s end, up from $87 million a year earlier. The firm said that this left it “well funded entering the 2024 financial year.”
Today’s statement marks the second time in as many months that the firm has raised its earnings forecasts.
In November it predicted pre-tax profits of “not less than $130 million” for 2023 following a “very strong first half trading performance” and “further good progress” to the end of October.
Price Targets Hiked
Analyst Joe Brent of Liberum raised his target price for 4imprint shares on the back of Friday’s update. This now sits at £62.50 per share, up from £61 previously.
He noted that “the rate of order book growth has slowed over the year” as comparatives got tougher from April 2022.
Brent also commented that “the market… has some concerns that a US recession would reduce demand for 4imprint’s products,” describing the chances of an economic contraction as “high.”
However, he noted that the FTSE 250 firm has managed to continue growing orders while the rest of the market has been contracting, suggesting that it is still grabbing business from its rivals.