New owners of Norville's manufacturing arm, Inspecs Group Plc, has revealed a loss in its latest financial results.

The Bath-based eyewear frame designer, manufacturer and distributor reported group revenues of $47.4m (£34.09m) in its full year results, down from $61.2m in the previous year.

It also swung to a loss after tax of $8.9m for the 12 months to December 31, from a profit of $6.4m in 2019.

Operationally, Inspecs said the acquisition of Norville in July 2020 had provided further vertical integration and access to the lens market.

The business increased manufacturing capacity by 70 per cent over the year, to more than 8.5 million frames. It also said it had added seven new in-house brands to its portfolio, including its first fully sustainable eyewear range 'Botaniq'.

"Despite what has been an extraordinary period for the business, we have maintained positive momentum in 2020 creating a strong platform for growth in 2021," said Robin Totterman, CEO of Inspecs.

"Since our IPO in February 2020, the acquisitions of Norville and Eschenbach have created a well-balanced vertically integrated business serving both global retail chains and the independent optical market."

Mr Totterman added that the group now had a worldwide distribution network serving over 70,000 retail outlets giving further growth opportunities.

"I am pleased to report that the group has performed well in the first five months of 2021 despite continuing restrictions caused by Covid-19.

"Whilst I remain cautious on future months while uncertainty remains surrounding the pandemic and its effects, our trading has been encouraging and I look forward to updating shareholders on our first half performance in August, which should start to demonstrate the enlarged group's capabilities."

Looking forward, he said the group had a successful start to 2021, with sales of $67m in the first quarter.

"The group continues to win new customers and in particular the Vietnam new facility is now completed and operational. Our order books at the time of this report are higher than at the same time in 2020 on a like for like basis."