Dudson Turnaround Continues At Pace

Dudson, the Stoke-on-Trent (UK) based ceramics manufacturer, announces solid 1st quarter trading results (Dudson works on an Apr-March financial year) with sales growth of 5% and operating profit up by £650k ($875k) on the same quarter last year.

Both sales and profit are ahead of the Group’s budget for the 1st quarter and the company is sitting on a solid order book going into the 2nd quarter. Sales for Dudson have been especially strong in the USA, Canada and Australia which have seen combined growth of 14% compared to the same quarter last year, while the launch last year of the company’s “HARVEST” range has driven significant sales growth across the Group.

Following some difficult trading years, Dudson has been through a business turnaround which has seen the divestment of its French manufacturing operation and a realignment of operating costs across the business. Supply of the “EVOLUTION” product line is being addressed through a £500k investment focused on increasing capacity and improving factory efficiency, while the company is currently recruiting over 30 new factory personnel to allow an additional manufacturing shift to run on additional quantities of EVOLUTION.

Dudson is also investing in its commercial and supply chain teams, with Katie Dudson moving into a new role within the company’s supply chain team and new roles being created in the sales teams in Australia, USA and the UK. A new Group Marketing Manager has also been recruited to focus on brand development and digital marketing.

Dudson is a 216 year old family owned business. The company received a £3million investment in 2014 from The Business Growth Fund.