Designer Textiles fails to match last year's high

Designer Textiles faced a barrage of good-natured verbal volleys and a lonesome bouquet at its annual meeting yesterday.

Last year the company produced the NZX's best performing share but yesterday the price slumped 4.12 per cent to 93c after shareholders heard its full-year profit would be unlikely to match last year's.

The company operates three subsidiaries: Designer Textiles International, Mollers Textiles and Logan Textiles.

Logan underperformed through the year and sales slowed.

Chairman George Gould said "until all divisions are firing ... it will take some time, based on our existing businesses, for the company to break through the $3.4 million ... surplus achieved in the year under review."

Gould said the board expected the year-end result to be "somewhat behind" last year.

The speech also emphasised that the company had suffered losses in 2001 and was now consolidating under its new direction which focused more on sales and marketing.

Gould also said the board would consider buying more businesses.

Mark Bilton, the company's new chief executive, told shareholders that his vision was simply "growth" for the business and for shareholder value.

He said Designer Textiles was going well and getting inquiries from Europe for its merino products.

The 30-odd shareholders gathered in the company's Glenfield head office sought reassurances on a variety of issues including how the company would cope with the impending tariff cuts and whether it was intending to set up a website.

Gould said the company's points of difference - most notably with its merino products - would help when the tariffs were cut. The board also said setting up a website was "on the to-do list".