The Newport Pagnell-headquartered specialist in gifting products trades as Design Group.

It is the UK’s largest manufacturer of Christmas crackers, gift wrap, greetings cards, stationery and creative play products. It owns the Tom Smith Christmas cracker brand, which has had a Royal Warrant since 1906.

In a trading update ahead of its interims at the end of this month, Design Group said that challenging trading at its DG Americas wing had hit group sales, which were down 11% in H1, while adjusted profit slumped by 62%.

However, the business expects profits to improve in H2.

Cost saving initiatives have included shutting its Chinese manufacturing facility, and “significant restructuring” at its Americas wing.

Design Group’s board said the business expected to achieve “strong year-on-year improvement in both profit and cash flow compared to the prior financial year”. 

“It will also deliver the board's aspiration to return the Group to pre-pandemic operating margins of at least 4.5% by the end of FY2025.”

The group, which reports in US dollars, had sales of just over $800m (£624m) in the year to 31 March.