Pental rides high with hampers

A DECISION by Pental, the maker of brands such as White King, Pears and Country Life, to hitch its wagon to the hampers and gift basket shopping boom has bolstered its firsthalf earnings.

The news sent Pental shares surging 9.3 per cent to 47c.

Pental posted a 46.73 per cent lift in interim profit to $4.239m on Friday, mostly driven by the inclusion of its recently acquired Hampers with Bite business, as sales rose 2.7 per cent to $44.375m.

Pental is forecasting a return to growth of around 5 per cent in the second half for its cleaning, laundry and other brands, which includes Jiffy firelighters, as normalised shopping pattern returns.

Pental lifted its forecast for full-year 2022 underlying earnings before interest and tax to the range of $10.5m to $11m, an increase in the range of 28.9 per cent to 35 per cent compared to its 2021 underlying EBIT of $8.1m.

Pental declared a fully franked interim dividend of 1.3c per share, a 30 per cent lift on last year’s interim payout, payable on March 23.