Ongoing cost-cutting and restructuring are adding sparkle to recent numbers from household and personal care product manufacturer McBride (MCB). The recently installed management team, headed by chief executive Rik De Vos, saw a £5m benefit from its purchasing initiatives. It jettisoned 75 per cent of its customers as part of the company's overhaul, meaning it makes fewer products and so buys fewer chemicals. But it's also spending less on the chemicals it continues to use. This helped margins rise 1.3 percentage points to 5.3 per cent and adjusted operating profits (which excludes nearly £18m of restructuring costs in 2015) rose more than a quarter to £36.2m.
Volumes were stable, but management highlighted price pressures across most of the group's markets. The UK saw prices fall by roughly 4 per cent, although this was offset by cost-cutting and lower raw material charges. Mr De Vos said more people had been hired within its personal care and aerosols division to give it a "fresh look".