Royal Doulton Plc, which announced a major restructuring in December with the loss of 1,200 jobs, has said it did not expect to return to profit until the second half of 1999. The group said that repositioning the business away from lower margin sales had started. However, weak consumer spending and strong competition would lead to much lower sales this year than in 1998. "Given the degree and speed of change on which we have embarked, the related internal costs, and the normal seasonal pattern of trading, the board currently expects the group to make an operating loss in the first half of 1999 before returning to profits in the second half," it said. Royal Doulton reported a 1998 pre-tax loss of £42.6m following a restructuring charge of £47.7m, after profit of £6.2m in 1997, on turnover of £238.8m.
