Beige's loss per share 3.99c

Beige said that trading conditions in the local and international retail trading environment remained challenging as a result of continued economic uncertainty.

"This is borne out in the substantial fluctuations in the monthly demand order book and provides for an extremely volatile trading environment.

"Certain customers have been facing intense competition and pricing pressure. This has resulted in a drop in volumes from key customers as well as continued pressure on the gross margins achieved by the group‚" Beige said.

It said that revenue from outsourced manufacturing remained under pressure and margins from increased raw material costs and higher production costs attributed to above-inflationary energy cost increases and additional labour costs contributed to the volatility of the order book.

"These costs were not fully recoverable by price increases given the competitive environment in which the group operates‚" it said.