HOW AMERICANS GOT A TASTE FOR FINE DINING

The US is Portmeirion’s biggest market for tableware with £25m worth of sales a year

130,000 plates, mugs and other tableware pieces are produced a week at its factory in Stoke-on-Trent

The factory’s two tunnel kilns run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

Botanic Garden is Portmeirion’s most popular range with around 50 million pieces in homes globally

Between 15 and 20 million pieces of Portmeirion products were sold around the world last year

This year marks the 100th birthday of founder Susan Williams-Ellis who died in 2007 POTTERY firm Portmeirion has posted a record profit as Americans kept snapping up fine dining tableware.

The Stoke-on-Trent company grew sales for the ninth year in a row to £84.8m, a 10.6pc jump on a year earlier. Strong sales in the UK and US glazed over disappointing results in South Korea, where revenue plunged 32pc to £6.6m.

Portmeirion said a shift to casual dining there had hit sales, but a growing presence in other Asian countries like Taiwan and Hong Kong had offset losses. It is reviewing the types of products it sells in South Korea to be more attractive to consumers.

Portmeirion sells more than twothirds of its plates, bowls, mugs and other tableware overseas, with the US and South Korea being two of its biggest customers.

Profits at the AIM-listed company jumped by 13pc to £8.8m.

Portmeirion has integrated its home fragrance business Wax Lyrical with its other homeware ranges, boosting sales. It bought Wax Lyrical for £17.5m in 2016 and has started selling candles and diffusers alongside its pottery.