Breville’s group revenue increased 32% to $266 million from 1 January to 30 April 2020, with growth up 25% in March and 21% in April. Sell-through exceeded sell-in growth in all key regions as demand remained strong and retailers ran down inventory.

The trading update was released after the company was placed in a trading halt on Wednesday for a proposed capital raising. Breville has now successfully completed a $94 million institutional placement at $17 per share and is now offering shareholders the opportunity to participate in a share purchase plan capped at $10 million.

Breville CEO, Jim Clayton said over its 88-year history, Breville has brought innovative products to customers including through challenging periods and the current environment is no exception.

“In recent months, Breville has continued to engage and delight its customers, sales have continued to grow strongly, and we continue to see significant opportunity ahead of us,” he said.

“COVID-19 presents a tactical challenge and we are implementing a number of tactical solutions to maintain our long-term growth agenda. The debt refinancing and equity raising will help us capitalise on opportunities and allows us to maintain the product development, infrastructure investments and international expansion cadence that has underpinned our accelerating EBIT growth over the last five years.”

Breville also outlined three key pillars of its strategic plan moving forward:

  1. Capitalise on opportunities arising from current environment

“Breville sales have continued to grow strongly through March and April and retailers have reported inventory reductions, as a result of rapidly growing demand. Breville will continue to invest in inventory and capitalise on recent growth acceleration.”

  1. Continue investment in marketing and product development

“Breville has a proven track record of developing new and innovative products for its customers and converting R&D spend into revenue growth. Having a three to four-year product development cycle, Breville is committed to maintaining its investment in product development to underpin its long-term growth profile.”

  1. Build on momentum of international expansion strategy

“Since FY16, there has been a steady cadence of expansion into new markets that continues to gain momentum. In FY20, Breville entered France and is in the process of switching to the Sage brand in the Middle East to enable a wider product range and shorter lead times. Breville is in advanced planning for entry into further international markets in FY21.”