Ceramics firm Waterford Wedgwood has announced that its profits have fallen by more than a half.

Latest figures from the company, based at Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, show it made �25.3m in pre-tax profits during 2001 - down from �52.4m the year before.

But Richard Barnes, the company's finance director, said the figures should be put into context.

He told BBC Radio Stoke: "The number is accurate in terms of the year-to-year change but we are measuring from a peak year, the year 2000.

Job cuts

"Sales then grew by 23% and our profits by 25% so 2001 figures are coming off what was a really strong performance from Waterford Wedgwood through the last five years."

Last November, Waterford Wedgwood announced 1,400 job cuts - 500 from the pottery sector.

The firm has now taken decisive action to deal with the slump in profits.

About �40m has been spent on a restructuring programme, which included the redundancies.

'Well positioned'

Chairman Anthony O'Reilly: "The group's portfolio of great brands stood the business in good stead in challenging circumstances.

"We have taken forward-thinking decisive action to address rapidly changing conditions, so that the group is well positioned in the global market for luxury lifestyle brands."

The ceramics industry in the West Midlands suffered a major blow last year when ceramics giant Royal Doulton asked 570 workers to consider voluntary redundancy as part of a wide-ranging review of the business.

The company, which employs 3,000 people in Stoke-on-Trent, announced it was offering severance packages to monthly-paid workers.

The news came in the same week that the firm's share price hit an all-time low of 49p, a sixth of its value four years ago.