Victoria carpet firm on track to roll out big profits

Victoria said it was also a result of continuing improvement in the firm's own like-for-like profitability – stripping out the impact of the Globesign deal.

As a result, pre-tax profits for the year to the end of March 'are likely to be ahead of market expectations'.

Globesign's turnover for the last 12 months was £18.7m and pre-tax profits were £4.5m, but Victoria's share will only date from the takeover on December 13.

The news boosted Victoria's share price, sending it up by around 10 per cent in early trading today.

It is part of an improving picture at the 119-year-old carpet-making firm, which slumped to a £3.5 million loss last year in the wake of a bitter boardroom battle for control in 2012 and tough markets at home and in Australia, where it also operates.

Now headed by executive chairman Geoff Wilding, Victoria, which employs 200 in Kidderminster, has focused on cutting its costs and driving sales – buoyed by the improving housing market.

As a result, Victoria's half-year figures showed it back in the black, turning last year's £1.5m half-time loss into an £86,000 profit despite a 4.1 per cent drop in turnover to £34.5m.

The company also sold its Worcester Road factory site Kidderminster in a 'sale and leaseback' deal that raised nearly £6 million to pump into the business.

Victoria will continue to operate from the factory, signing a 20-year lease and paying rent of £495,000 a year to the new owners, London-based property firm Monopro. But the deal raised £5.8m for Victoria, which the company has said it will use to strengthen its balance sheet.

At the time of the sale and leaseback deal, company director Alexander Anton – a descendant of one of the families that founded the firm – said: "This is goods news for the town and good news for jobs."

"It means we have just committed to the future of our key manufacturing centre in Kidderminster."

Mr Anton said the company was using money from its property assets to build the business – similar 'sale and leaseback' deals had been carried out with two of its Australian facilities last year.

Victoria will reveal details of its trading position for the current year, which ends on March 28, when it releases its full-year figures at the beginning of July.