Victoria posts trading update

Victoria has released a trading update detailing the company’s continued market recovery despite ongoing challenges.

The group says its UK, North American and Australian businesses have all gained market share. Organic revenue growth was approximately 4% YTD to the end of August, and would have been approximately 6% excluding rugs, where, as the company expected, revenue has been temporarily constrained by the relocation of production to Turkey, with the repositioned equipment now in the final stages of commissioning. These results represents the group’s first return to organic revenue growth since 2022. The board says it remains focused on delivering further EBITDA improvement and cash generation, with EBITDA to the end of August, excluding rugs’ transitory losses, ahead of the prior year.

The statement continues: “The impact of the Middle East conflict on input prices, such as oil derivatives, natural gas, diesel and freight, remains a challenge as, whilst management actively seek to mitigate the impact with price increases and efficiency measures, this capability is not unlimited.”

Liquidity management is said to be a key focus for the business through the balance of the year to fund the operational improvements being implemented. In line with the group’s active capital allocation optimisation, it says, good progress continues to be made on property and non-core asset sales. A total of £70m in net proceeds are being targeted in FY27, and of this approximately £26m have already been completed. Negotiations are advanced on other properties and updates will be made as appropriate.