Waterford Wedgwood has announced an update on its brands’ trading performance over the Christmas 2006 period, the month to 31 December 2006.

The Group reported that the important Christmas Holiday shopping
period saw strong retail sales performance by Waterford Wedgwood’s major brands in key markets.

While the Group’s year-to-date sales (1 April 2006 to 31 December 2006) were broadly in-line with the same period last year, December retail performance was very encouraging. In Australia, retail sales to consumers of Royal Doulton by major department store chains were 14% up year-on-year.

The sales gains are clear evidence that new product initiatives are winning new consumers for Waterford Wedgwood’s legendary brands. This bodes well for the Group’s sales performance in the coming months.

Peter Cameron, Group Chief Executive, said ‘Christmas is the most important trading period in the year for Waterford Wedgwood. Across virtually all of our brands, our retailers saw significantly higher sales over Christmas. As a result, our leading retailers and our products had their best Christmas for five years.

‘Our most important brands have shown significant growth. I am particularly pleased by the performance.