AGA hails 'resilient' performance

Upmarket cooker firm Aga Rangemaster today said its order intake dipped 5% this summer amid challenging consumer markets.

This followed flat sales for its premium Aga and Rayburn ranges in the first half of the year. Volumes for its more accessible Rangemaster product were also steady, but revenues rose 5% in the period thanks to higher prices.

Overall pre-tax profits were flat at £12.3m (€12.3m), with chief executive William McGrath describing the performance as “resilient”. He added: “We recognise that consumer markets are likely to remain challenging.”

In Ireland, where the group’s market this year has been described as “very weak”, Aga’s performance was markedly worse with “sharp” falls for its oil-fired Stanley cast-iron range, and a 20% decrease in Rangemaster sales.

Solihull-based Aga said it has also seen a shift to electric-powered cookers from the more traditional oil-fired versions, thanks to the relentless rise in fuel prices during the first half. Electric powered Agas accounted for more than half the total for the first time, it said.

Mr McGrath said: “Our products...are well attuned to the needs of today’s customers and we expect to emerge stronger and even better positioned following this current economic down cycle.”

Sales of “big-ticket” items such as cookers, washing machines and fridge freezers are seen as most at threat from a property slump as fewer home sales reduces demand.

The firm, which employs 3,000 people in the UK, is hoping this year’s Rangemaster sales will top the 76,000 units sold in 2007. Last year it achieved 19,600 sales of its Aga, Rayburn and Stanley makes.

As well as the consumer downturn, Aga said it was also having to wrestle with higher steel costs and energy prices during the period. In order to save costs it is moving to a new combined head office and distribution centre in Leamington Spa.

Trading at the group’s home interior division Fired Earth was making good progress, it said, with orders up by nearly 10%.

The group, which sold its foodservice arm for £265m (€329m) last year, makes its flagship Aga ovens at a manufacturing operation at Coalbrookdale near Telford, while Rangemaster products are made at Leamington Spa.

Shares were up 3% today after the company raised its interim dividend by 4%.