Counselor Top 40 firm 4imprint (asi/197045), the largest distributor by revenue in the North American promotional products industry, said in a Jan. 21 financial update that preliminary unaudited figures show that the company increased total global sales 3% year over year in 2024 to about $1.37 billion.

The tally marks another annual record for 4imprint – and possibly for promo distributors as a whole, depending on final results from other distributors. Still, the growth rate retreated markedly from 2023 and 2022, when the publicly traded company increased total global revenue 16% and 45%, respectively.

In the trading update, executives said that 2024 presented a “challenging marketing backdrop,” a reality reflected by the fact that orders from new customers declined 9% compared to 2023. Even so, orders from existing customers increased 5%, helping to drive an overall order count rise of 2%. Order value increased 2% as well, which aided in spurring the top-line company-wide gain.

According to 4imprint, the unaudited results show that profit before tax in 2024 should register in at not less than $153 million – a $12 million increase over 2023 and above the current upper end range that market analysts forecasted. Gross profit margin was 32%.

Operating on an e-commerce model and headquartered in London, UK, 4imprint has its main operations in Wisconsin and generates the vast majority of its business in North America, with the remaining sales occurring in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The company didn’t release a breakdown of its revenue total to show how much came from North America and how much from overseas. It will do so when fully audited financial results are revealed on March 12.

“Our financial and operational performance reflects a clear strategy and a highly resilient, cash-generative business model.” 4imprint (asi/197045) board of directors

In addition to the early word on full-year sales, 4imprint noted that it completed the 170,000-square-foot expansion of its flagship facility in Oshkosh, WI, in 2024.

The project at the now 475,000-square-foot facility included adding 1,488 solar panels, which increased pre-existing solar capacity at the facility by 56%. 4imprint said the $20 million investment will, among other things, help support the company’s “continued growth in the apparel category of our product range.”

Even after the $20 million layout, 4imprint said that it had $148 million in unaudited cash and bank deposits at the end of 2024, up from $105 million at the end of 2023.

Despite what 4imprint’s board of directors described as “continued uncertainty around economic conditions,” the company said it delivered a “strong financial performance for the year. … Our financial and operational performance reflects a clear strategy and a highly resilient, cash-generative business model. The board remains confident in [4imprint’s] strategy, positioning and prospects.”

Based on reported 2023 North American promo sales of about $1.302 billion, 4imprint ranked first on Counselor’s most recent list of the industry’s largest distributors. Company executives Kevin Lyons-Tarr and Suzanne Worwood jointly rank fourth on Counselor’s Power 50 list of the promotional products industry’s most influential people.