Warpaint London PLC (AIM:W7L) saw its shares rally 5% higher to 207.50p in early trade on Friday after the owner of the W7 and Technic cosmetics brands said 2023 had started strongly and it now believes full-year results will exceed its previous expectations.
The company announced in January that sales for 2022 were ahead of forecasts following particularly robust trading in the fourth quarter.
It said this strong performance has continued into 2023 and predicted record sales for the first quarter to end-March after sales in the period to 23 March exceeded £16mln, compared with £13.2mln in the first three months of 2022.
Margins continue to be robust and in line with last year, it added.
"I am delighted that the strong performance of the group seen in 2022 has continued into 2023. We are enjoying a strong trading performance across the group, with sales growth in many territories and online. We also continue to enjoy healthy margins,” commented chief executive Sam Bazini in a statement.
Warpaint London had cash of £7.6mln as of 23 March 2023, compared with £5.8mln at the end of December 2022, and no debt.
The group will release its results for the year ended 31 December 2022 on 26 April 2023.