Household cleaning products firm McBride – which recently revealed plans to close its manufacturing facility in Cumbria – is bracing itself for another hefty blow to its profits.

In a trading update the company said it expected its adjusted pre-tax profits to be 15 per cent lower than its current expectation of £22.1m for the full year ending June 30.

It blamed the anticipated drop on low revenues for the first half of the year due to “weaker” demand for private label products.

Overall revenues were down 1.4 per cent compared to the previous year and 8 per cent down in the UK for the six months ending December 31, it said.

MrBride has been battling a challenging and changing consumer market, having reported a £8.8m drop in profits last year despite a significant increase in revenues.

In November the company caused shockwaves across Barrow when it announced plans to close its factory in the town putting 106 jobs at risk.

The move, it said, was due to a fall in demand for the laundry powders manufactured at the site, with the detergent market shifting toward liquids.

The changing consumer trend had forced it to examine its manufacturing footprint and “realign this in order to remain competitive”.

Staff are now being consulted on proposals which McBride say could see the factory in Park Road close in the summer.

The company has insisted it that its Barrow-based management team is exploring “alternative scenarios” for the plant and that support will be on offer for “potentially affected colleagues.”

And Barrow Borough Council has vowed it will work with other organisations, including the likes of Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership “to identify what steps it can take to assist workers in the future”.

While there was no mention of the closure in the trading update issued to the London Stock Exchange, McBride did say: “Cost improvement initiatives continue across the group and these are expected to show increased benefits in the second half year.”

The Barrow factory has seen clutches of jobs losses over recent years with McBride top brass keeping a close eye on overhead costs.

In its trading update, McBride – which is expecting revenues to be around 2 per cent lower for the year – said raw material and packaging costs remained “largely stable”.

Following the Barrow factory announcement speculation circled that risings costs fuelled by Brexit uncertainty had been a factor in the decision, although in-Cumbria understands Brexit was not, directly, part of the reasoning.

The company is to announce its interim results on February 20.