For the Perrier-drinking nouveaux riches who delight in showing off designer refinement at the dining table, a set of John Rocha glassware is a must for the well appointed dinner party. The large bulbous wine glasses, priced at over £30 a throw, simply scream style and, should the need arise, their sheer bulk provide an invaluable barrier behind which one can disappear, avoiding participation in any tedious dinner party conversation.
For Waterford Crystal, which commissioned the glassware range bearing the imprimatur of the fashionable design guru, the association has been a success, the Rocha range widely perceived as a de rigueur accompaniment to any self-respecting scallops au gratin or salmon chaudfroid. It was sales expansion across the Waterford Crystal produce range which provided the mundane meat-and-potatoes of earnings at the Waterford Wedgwood group last year, the crystal division pushing up turnover 21 per cent to £185 million, operating profits surging 32 per cent to £24 million.
The Wedgwood fine china side had a sluggish year, burdened by an exceptional restructuring charge of £28 million. With the Japanese market depressed, consumer spending was tight, the division's difficulties compounded by the weakness of the yen and the strength of sterling. Pre-tax profits, reflecting the substantial restructuring costs, tumbled from £35 million to £12 million. Rosenthal, the German porcelain manufacturer now owned by WW, also had a tough year, exceptional provisions of £6.6 million making it a loss-maker.
Nonetheless, the combined WW operation is still serving up solid growth, with group pre-tax profits rising 15 per cent to £40 million, much as the market had anticipated. With sales of £536.5 million, the strategy objective of a £650 million turnover by 2000 is still very much on the table d'hote menu. WW, leaner and fitter after its trauma of financial liposuction, has regained the goodwill of the market, the shares generally well supported. Beside their place cards on the WW dining table, shareholders will find a little goodwill gift of total dividends increased from 1.4p to 1.6p a share, enabling them to add another piece or two to their collection of John Rocha glassware.
