- Flat four month EBITDA
- Full-year 2025 guidance downgraded
- Lower orders from retail customers
Shares in Ultimate Products (ULTP) slumped 30% to a five-year low of 52p after the homeware brands owner downgraded its year-to-July 2025 guidance with tariff-induced macro uncertainty causing caution amongst retail customers and the company seeing a sales mix shift towards lower margin products.
While the Oldham-headquartered group’s latest earnings alert has knocked investors’ confidence in the story, Ultimate Products stressed that investments in its sales function should improve future performance and insisted it remains ‘as confident as ever’ in its long-term prospects.
NASTY SURPRISE
In an unscheduled update, the owner of Salter, the UK’s oldest houseware brand and laundry-to-floor care brand Beldray, warned full-year 2025 adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) is now expected to be around £12.5 million), some 12.5% below the £14.3 million consensus was calling for.
Ultimate Products warned of zero growth in second half sales and guided for a 4% fall in full-year sales as a result.
Although sales ticked up 3% in the four months from February to May 2025, sales were weighted towards lower margin product categories and sales channels, which negatively impacted gross margins.
And despite a fall in freight rates, adjusted EBITDA for the four-month period was flat at £3.6 million, with Ultimate Products bemoaning a lower rate of order intake by retail customers, with over £4 million of orders deferred from the final quarter of full-year 2025 into the first quarter of full-year 2026.
‘Looking ahead to full-year 2026, the current order book indicates a slow start to the year (currently down 7.5% versus this time last year),’ warned Ultimate Products.
‘Given the current trading environment, the board therefore believes it is prudent to expect full-year 2026 revenue to be lower than full-year 2025, at a level broadly in line with the current order book position.’
WHAT DID THE CEO SAY?
CEO Andrew Gossage said: ‘This remains a hugely challenging trading environment given the wider macroeconomic uncertainty and weak consumer sentiment, and unfortunately our current performance reflects that. However, there are also a number of investments which we are making within our sales function to enhance its systems and processes and thus improve future performance.’
Gossage added: ‘Ultimate Products has demonstrated time and time again its resilience in the toughest of circumstances, and despite the near-term uncertainty we remain as confident as ever in our long-term prospects.’
TAKING THE BULL BY THE HORNS
Following the update, Shore Capital downgraded its full-year 2025 adjusted pre-tax profit forecast by 17% to £8.8 million.
‘There is no doubt that today’s update is disappointing from Ultimate Products, reflecting a further miss of expectations,’ said the broker. ‘Whilst the consumer backdrop is very challenging, we welcome that the group are not using this as an excuse, and we applaud management taking the bull by the horns to undertake a root and branch restructuring of its sales function, which should be to good effect over the medium to long term of the company.’
Canaccord Genuity stuck with its ‘buy’ rating on Ultimate Products, arguing: ‘Whilst the consumer backdrop remains fragile and is impacting Ultimate Products’ near-term performance, management clearly has a plan to improve its medium-term sales performance to help mitigate macro conditions, which along with the growth opportunity in mainland Europe means that the longer-term growth opportunity remains.’
