Household products manufacturer McBride has said that it has seen an increase in demand for its bleach, anti-bacterial and disinfecting sprays, and cleaning products, however the business added that production at its factories has been constrained.
In a trading statement, the firm said that at the moment, it was not clear to what extent increased demand is due to 'additional end-user consumption or short-term consumer stockpiling'.
'Varying Levels Of Production'
It said that its factories remain open, however they are operating at 'varying levels of production', due to labour constraints, material supplies and distribution challenges for both inbound and outbound materials.
'As Europe progressively 'locks down', we may see further restrictions on our ability to operate factories to match demand levels,' the company said. 'We are working on output optimisation through measures such as recruitment of additional labour, customer prioritisation, range simplification and haulage optionality.'
As a result, McBride noted that revenue improvements in the short term are likely to be tempered by reduced factory efficiencies, although lower raw material input costs in the fourth quarter could lead to some benefit in performance.
Outlook
McBride said that it is cancelling its interim payment to shareholders, which was announced in its recent interim results, adding that it is unable to offer any update on guidance for the current financial year.
In February, the business posted a 4.4% decline in revenue for the first half of its financial year; a performance which its new chief executive Ludwig de Mot described as disappointing.
Revenue at its household products division was £334.4 million (€399.5 million), which was a 1.4% decline at constant currency levels (-2.1% reported).
The business is in the process of restructuring, having offloaded its European Personal Care (PC) Liquids business last year, as well as selling land associated with its former aerosols site in Hull.
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