IWP chief executive Mr Joe Moran has sounded an upbeat note about the company's prospects after reporting a solid set of first-half figures. Pre-tax profits in the half-year to the end of September rose more than 7 per cent to €12.8 million (£10.08 million) on sales up just less than 5 per cent to €282.2 million.

"For the first time in three years, I am confident the business is now going in the right direction," said Mr Moran, who is IWP's biggest shareholder with an 11 per cent stake.

Over the past three years, IWP has refocused its operations on household products and personal care products as well as a distribution operation. Various subsidiaries have been sold off. Those three years, however, have seen a collapse in IWP's share price from a 1998 high of €5.93 to a low this year of €1.50. The shares, however, have recovered in recent weeks and, at the current €2.00, are at their highest level for almost two years.

Household products, such as Bloo and Parozone bleaches and cleaners, account for more than half of IWP's first-half sales, and operating profits from this division were up 8 per cent to €7.7 million. There was a marked shift towards branded operations, where sales rose 21 per cent - boosted by the launch of two new products under the Bloo and Parozone banner.

In the personal care division, which manufactures toiletries, sales fell 4.3 per cent to €75.2 million as a result of a brand rationalisation but operating profits rose marginally to €8.2 million. The distribution division, which largely comprises the Polbita drugstore operation in Poland, increased its turnover by almost 19 per cent to €69.9 million although operating profits fell almost 9 per cent to €3.4 million. Mr Moran said he expected the solid first-half results to boost IWP's attractiveness to investors. "The market has now moved away from more exotic shares and the more exotic approach. People have got over that fashion and are looking at visible sales and profits."

He conceded that IWP's size was still a problem but took the view that, while Irish fund managers had moved away from Irish small-cap shares, "we may see more overseas fund managers looking at Irish companies. We employ more than 4,000 people in Europe and only 14 in Ireland. That should make us more attractive outside Ireland."

IWP has been periodically mooted as a management buyout possibility but Mr Moran said yesterday: "We are committed to staying as a plc provided there is no better alternative for shareholders."