Agas, the cast-iron cookers that have warmed country kitchens for generations, have been dented by the recession.
Aga Rangemaster warned this morning that trading deteriorated throughout the last six months of 2008, a time when consumers reined in their spending on big-ticket items and home improvements.
The company has already cut its production of new models and eliminated 400 jobs, about 12% of its workforce, over the last year in a bid to reduce costs. Chief executive William McGrath said he was confident that it can keep trading until the economic climate improves.
"Our business has origins in cooking and home heating that can be traced back over 300 years and which provide the perspective to see that quality and innovation succeed across economic cycles," he said.
Aga said it had seen a shift of interest away from oil-powered cookers into wood-fuelled models over the last year, a time when the oil price soared to its record high of over $147 a barrel.
It expects pre-tax profits for the second half of the year to be "appreciably below" the £12.5m it achieved in the first half of 2008.
Environmental campaigner George Monbiot criticised the Aga today, arguing that many models do more damage to the environment than the average patio heater. In a column in today's Guardian, he declared the start of a campaign against the Aga.
"A large Aga running on coal turns out nine tonnes of carbon dioxide per year: five and a half times the total CO2 production of the average UK home," he wrote. "To match that, the patio heater would have to burn for nine months."
Shares in the firm fell by over 10% this morning, down 7.25p at 54.5p.
