Walker Greenbank - 27.75p Shares in the household products group Walker Greenbank have shot up over the last few weeks on the back of the annual results to last January, which showed that at the operating level, the group returned to profit for the first time since the year 2000.

The fact that five of the directors purchased a total of 210,000 shares after the results' announcement in April has also instilled confidence into investors.

Walker Greenbank has endured a difficult time over recent years, but it now looks set to reap the benefit of the reorganisation that has taken place throughout the group.

Walker Greenbank is an international group of companies which designs, manufactures, markets and distributes wallcoverings, furnishing fabrics and products for the consumer market.

The group's brands, which include Sandersons, Zoffany and Harlequin are targeted at the upper end of the premium market.

In addition, the group also owns two manufacturing businesses, Anstey Wallpaper and Standfast & Barracks.

The former, as the name implies, is a wallpaper manufacturing business, which designs and manufactures wallcoverings, whether they be wallpaper, vinyl or other specialist material. The company is the largest contract wallcovering printer in the UK and, as well as producing for the Walker Greenbank brands, it also produces wallpapers for third parties such as B & Q, Next and Mulberry.

Standfast & Barracks comprises three fabric printing businesses, which supply furnishing and apparel fabrics as well as camouflage fabrics to the military.

In the year to last January, group turnover on existing operations rose slightly to £46.4m, whilst the loss before tax and exceptional items fell to just £170,000 from £3.1m the previous year.

The brand portfolio performed strongly and all parts of the business traded profitably at the operating level, including the wallpaper and fabric printing factories. Although the group ended the year with gearing of over 100 per cent borrowings fell last year due to the strong operational cash flow and we expect a further reduction going forward.

The new financial year has started well with the group's brands gathering momentum and there is scope to leverage the brand portfolio through organic growth, expansion through investment in the contract and commercial markets and further exposure to the North American market.

There are also acquisition opportunities as the group operates in a large fragmented market that is ripe for consolidation. With the group set to return to profit at the pre-tax level this year, the shares are a BUY.

WARNING: Opinions expressed are the writers' judgments at the time of writing. The information does not constitute a personal recommendation and readers should seek their own professional advice as to the suitability of the investments.