Warpaint London PLC on Friday increasing its guidance for 2023, as it has continued to trade strongly in the second half of the year, leading up to Christmas.

The stock was up 5.8% to 331.28 pence in London late Friday morning. It is up 91% over the past 12 months.

Buckinghamshire, England-based Warpaint is a supplier of colour cosmetics and the owner of the W7 and Technic brands.

Sales in 2023 now are expected to be at least £85 million, up 3.9% from previous guidance of £81.8 million and up 33% from £64.1 million in 2022. Warpaint noted that the key pre-Christmas sales period is still taking place.

Gross product margin remains above 2022, when it was 36.4%, up from 33.8% in 2021.

As a result, pretax profit for 2023 is expected to be above £16 million, up 14% from previous guidance of £14 million and more than doubled from £7.7 million in 2022.

Warpaint said it has continued to launch its products in new stores and with new retailers this year, with further expansion planned for 2024. The W7 brand is set to be stocked in an additional 372 CVS stores in the US and 102 Boots stores in the UK during the first quarter of 2024.

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