Victoria PLC, the international designers, manufacturers and distributors of innovative flooring, has reported a slight decline in revenues but remained in line with market expectations.

According to its audited results for the year ended 30 March 2024, total underlying sales fell 14% to £1.2bn from £1.4bn in 2023.

Underlying EBITDA stood at £160.7m, down from £196m, while pre-tax profit resulted at £27.1m, down from £76.9m year-on-year.

During the period, Victoria completed its UK & Europe broadloom carpet integration, which resulted in a margin improvement of 370bps leading to underlying EBITDA for the division to increase by 23.8% to £82.8m despite lower volumes – underlining the “success of Victoria’s Balta integration project”.

Within its soft flooring division, Victoria said that sales were down 11.5% to £636.2m. “Independent market research suggests UK volumes were down circa 20%, which makes up the largest portion of the division, indicating that Victoria has continued to outperform the market – a factor the Board believes augurs well for earnings as demand recovers,” the group said.

Commenting on Victoria’s Outlook, Geoff Wilding, Executive Chairman, added: “Whilst we remain cautious about near-term trading conditions and cannot predict precisely when demand will normalise, we are (logically) continually moving closer to that point. As interest rates fall, housing transactions and deferred residential renovation, improvement and repair purchases will rebound, driving flooring demand.

“We expect the market outperformance and productivity improvements secured over the last 24 months to then be rapidly reflected in Victoria’s earnings and cash flow. Until this occurs, we remain focussed on minimising controllable costs and driving market share gains.”