Pittards hit by Ethiopia unrest
22/03/2017
The company’s underlying pre-tax profit was £200,000, down from £700,000 in 2015.Pittards said in January that it was expecting revenue and profit to be lower than previously forecast due to disruption to its manufacturing operations in Ethiopia, as well as a drop in global demand. Ethiopia has been under a state of emergency since October 2016. This resulted in a loss of production at its East Shewa tannery in the country. The facility has not yet returned to full capacity, which impacted second-half results.
2016 saw a change of chairman at the company, with Stephen Yapp replacing Stephen Boyd. Matthew O’Rourke also took over from Jill Williams as chief financial officer.
“The restructuring and strengthening of the management team was completed in the final quarter of 2016 and strides have already been made to evolve and progress the strategic priorities and milestones for the next three years,” said Mr Yapp.
He added that Pittards is already seeing an increase in demand for leather and said that he expected the company to see a benefit in the latter part of 2017.
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