IWP International chief executive Mr Joe Moran has said he wants to use IWP's public company status as a platform to become a major European operation. But he has not ruled out the prospect of a management buyout in the next 12 months. IWP is a second-line stock and has suffered from movement of capital out of the sector by Irish institutional investors. At yesterday's price of €1.95 (£1.54), IWP may be above its 1999 low of €1.38, but it is only marginally above the €1.77 level of last February when five IWP directors, headed by Mr Moran, bought 5 per cent of the group's shares.

On expansion into Europe, Mr Moran said: "That's the justification of being a plc and we're still prepared to give it a go. We'd like to judge the situation in another year or so." He added, however: "We would like to see a more realistic share price so we can do more acquisitions."

Mr Moran's comments on IWP's corporate future coincided with the group's half-year results which show a rise in pre-tax profits to €13.4 million from €12 million with sales up to €262.l2 million from €207 million. The rise in sales is largely attributed to the purchase of the Jeyes household products group.

IWP's household products division increased operating profits from €6.3 million to €7.9 million but margins fell sharply.

In the personal care and cosmetics division, the impact of lost Russian sales meant a fall in operating profits fell to €8.6 million from €9.6 million. Profits also fell at IWP's distribution and labels division to €2.8 million from €3.8 million. IWP is expecting a substantial improvement in this business following the introduction of a new central warehouse in Poland replacing 17 smaller warehouses.

Mr Moran indicated that IWP intended to rationalise its personal care product range and also its distribution base.