Wedgwood has Spring in its step

WATERFORD Wedgwood has sought to cut its dependence on the overcrowded luxury tableware market with the purchase of posh Swiss cookware group Spring.

WW, which is chaired by Tony O'Reilly, is believed to have paid about e4m (£2.5m) for Spring, which fell into receivership last October after making an operating loss of e1.2m for 2000. Its manufacturing equipment has since been mothballed.

Wedgwood, which owns 21.2% of Royal Doulton, believes that its strategy of developing a luxury cookware brand in Europe is better served by purchasing Spring than trying to expand All-Clad, its US cookware business, into Europe.

Wedgwood chief executive Redmond O'Donoghue said that All-Clad and Spring were aimed at taking advantage of the trend towards entertaining in the kitchen, which had triggered strong demand for quality copper and stainless steel cooking items that also looked good.

Shareholders, who have seen Wedgwood stock fall from 110p to 44p in the past year, will be hoping Spring's performance can be turned around quickly in light of Wedgwood's recent full-year loss of e43.3m.