News January 16, 2020
4imprint Says Sales Rose 17% in 2019
Promo’s largest distributor reported worldwide revenue of $860.8 million.
4imprint (asi/197045), the largest promotional products distributor by revenue in North America, said Thursday that preliminary unaudited results show that its total 2019 sales increased 17% to $860.8 million.
Headquartered in London, with its primary operations in Wisconsin, 4imprint plans to release full, audited financial results on March 3. As part of the trading update shared Thursday, 4imprint said its net cash balance at the end of last year was $41 million.
The company hasn’t yet released anticipated results on after-tax profit or earnings per share for the whole of 2019. For the first six months of the year, however, 4imprint’s after-tax profit was up 22% year over year to $15.36 million. That performance translated to earnings per diluted share of $0.546, an increase from $0.4481 the previous year. During 2019’s first six months, 4imprint’s basic EPS was $0.5481, up from $0.4496.
In a statement, 4imprint’s board said Thursday that the company “delivered further encouraging organic revenue growth during the second half of 2019. … The board remains committed to its strategy of driving organic revenue growth through investment in marketing, people and the group’s operational assets.”
4imprint produces most of its revenue in North America. The company didn’t say Thursday how much revenue it generated in the domestic promo market in 2019 compared to international sales, but that figure is likely to be revealed March 3. For the first six months of 2019, 4imprint’s North American sales rose 17% over the same period in 2018 to $394.43 million.
With reported 2018 North American promotional product revenue of $714.6 million, 4imprint ranked first on Counselor’s latest list of the largest distributors in the industry. The company’s five-year average annual growth rate is 17%.
4imprint CEO Kevin Lyons-Tarr and Suzanne Worwood, the distributor’s senior vice president of merchandising and supply chain, jointly placed first on Counselor’s 2019 Power 50, the definitive ranking of the most influential people in the promo products industry. Worwood was the first woman ever to top the list.