Manufacturing group Ebac saw profit fall while the company swung to a loss, saying that the figures “reflect investment and development costs in new products and markets”.
2018 accounts for the Newton Aycliffe company - which manufactures electric appliances - show that turnover fell from £17.5m a year earlier to £16.3m. An operating profit of £814,000 in 2017 turned to a £1.1m operating loss.
The losses include the impact of development costs relating to a new watercooler product for the US market, continued investment in its washing machine production and investment in technology and logistics to facilitate more direct sales.
But the accounts show that sales fell significantly in the UK (from £7m to £5.4m), along with a modest fall in Europe.
Sales in the rest of the world, which rose from £148,000 to £688,000 did not make up for those falls.
Despite the drop in turnover, Ebac increased its staffing over the year, having an average of 247 employees and seeing the largest rise in its production department.
John Elliott, chairman of Ebac Limited, said: “2018 was a difficult year, but because there are no private shareholders it enables us to take a long-term view and continue to invest for the future.
“I am confident that the business will return to profit in 2019 and by 2020 will be reaping the reward of the investment in research and development of new products and markets.”
In the accounts, Mr Elliott said that the good summer of 2018 had hit demand for dehumidifiers in the UK, with sales dropping 23%.
At the same time, sales of watercooler units rose by 8% and Ebac is actively targetting the US market, which it sees as “an opportunity to significantly increase our water coller sales.”
Sales of washing machines, of which Ebac is the only UK producer, increased 13% on 2017.
Ebac was formed by Mr Elliott in 1972 as a one-man business and has grown over the last four decades to become a global business.
Over that time the company has sold more than a million dehumidifiers, with profits reinvested back into the company and some given to the local community through the Ebac Foundation.
