Shower scene a dampener for Methven

Managing director Rick Fala says Methven's strength lies in the renovation market. Picture / Greg Bowker

Methven's slick new visuals seemed to wash over shareholders at the tap and showerware manufacturer's inaugural annual meeting yesterday.

Their cool was probably more reflective of Methven's age than its ambition.

A preview of the company's sensuous new "kissed by water" television advertisement for its Satinjet showerhead, featuring naked women in the shower, was followed by stunned silence at question time.

All the shareholders threw at chairman Richard Cutfield was a comment on the difficulty of reading the sideways-printed pages of its annual report.

Rather than a printing error, Cutfield said the page orientation was a design feature the company - wanting to avoid perceptions as an old-school manufacturer - had chosen to symbolise water flowing down the page.

Close to 100 shareholders attended the meeting at the Hilton Hotel in Auckland, representing the plumbers, company staff and large institutions who bought into the company when it floated last November.

Established as an iron and brass foundry in Dunedin 119 years ago, Methven has moved away from its manufacturing roots to carve out a path as an innovator of premium showerware, tapware and valving.

With the Satinjet brand to be launched today, Methven is aiming to raise the range's appeal among women, who make up 90 per cent of bathroom purchasing decisions, and among house-proud, style-conscious home renovators.

Satinjet technology - in which pairs of fine water jets collide to produce a soft, luxurious shower - is being used as a trailblazer in Methven's priority growth market, Australia, and to target markets in the United States and Britain.

Managing director Rick Fala noted that times were tough across the Tasman, where a drop-off in building in the last two quarters, a weaker housing market and higher interest rates had increased competition for its lower-end products.

But he told shareholders the success of Satinjet, steady growth in tapware sales and reasonable prospects for growth in the valve segment had enabled the company to record better sales than the previous year, at a time when some competitors were retrenching staff.

Methven had boosted its Australian sales force by four to aggressively target continued growth in the mid-priced and upper end of the market.

He also believed new legislation in Australia that required water efficiency labelling on products from next year would work to Methven's advantage because of the significant water savings Satinjet offered over conventional showerware.

Back home, where the company earned 65 per cent of its revenue, the predicted slowdown in building was expected to be less severe in the renovation market where Methven's strength lay, said Fala.

"We also believe there remains a reasonable backlog of work for installing plumbers, which should also lessen the impact of this expected slowdown, and are seeking to develop the potential of the market for easy and affordable bathroom upgrades."

Modest earnings growth was expected in the year ahead.