Warpaint London's trading well on buoyant UK, overseas ops

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Nov 2, 2021

Warpaint London is trading ahead of market expectations, the UK-based colour cosmetics supplier said on Tuesday when it issued a forecast update for its year ending 31 December.

Chief executive Sam Bazini cited “particularly strong growth” in the UK, “significant growth” internationally and “further increases” in online sales.

Following a “continuation of the improving trends seen H1”, the owner of the W7 and Technic brands now expects sales similar to pre-Covid 2019 (of £49.3 million), driven by growth from both new and existing customers.

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It said gross margins are currently being maintained ahead of those achieved in 2020 (31.1%) and 2019 (33.5%), despite some increased costs in the supply chain, particularly with freight, it noted.  

On the back of these positives, Warpaint London said it anticipates group adjusted EBITDA for the year will also be ahead of 2019 and current market expectations, and the performance delivered in 2020.

Bazini added: "In line with our stated strategy, we have significant opportunities for further growth, both with our existing retailers, those such as Boots where we are expecting to launch soon, and with others that we are in discussions with. I look forward to the remainder of the year and into 2022 with a high degree of confidence.”

Warpaint — which isn’t connected to the War paint for Men brand — has enjoyed plenty of success with its mass-market cosmetics offerings in recent periods and has seen strong sales with ranges sold through Wilko and Tesco.