4imprint (asi/197045), the largest distributor by revenue in the North American promotional products industry, saw total sales decline 34% year over year to $265.81 million during the first six months of 2020 – a plummet that resulted from sharply decreased demand amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to financial data the company released Thursday, Aug. 13.

Paul Moody, chairman, 4imprint

While headquartered in London, U.K., 4imprint’s main operations are in Oshkosh, WI, and it generates the vast majority of its sales in North America. Revenue in North America for the 2020 half-year tallied $260.54 million, down about $134 million from the same period in 2019. Sales in 4imprint’s U.K/Ireland division dropped 50% in the first six months of this year to $5.27 million.

Industry-wide, promotional products distributors collective sales fell, on average, 44.4% year over year in the second quarter of 2020. Sales in Q1 were down about 5%. Distributors are predicting an annual industry sales decline of almost 35% for the whole of 2020, according to Counselor’s State of the Industry research.

The chart reflects the collective performance of distributors across the North American promo industry.

Meanwhile, 4imprint reported basic earnings per share of $0.07 on an after-tax profit of $21,000 for the first half of 2020. In 2019, during the comparative timeframe, 4imprint’s basic EPS was $0.5481 on an after-tax profit of $15.36 million.

Despite experiencing an operating loss of $33,000 during the 2020 half-year, 4imprint noted that it remained in what executives termed a “strong financial position” with a cash balance of $37.49 million.

For the first half of the year, 4imprint’s total order count fell from 778,000 in 2019 to 470,000 in 2020. Still, executives noted that the situation has steadily improved over the summer. Amid the height of COVID-caused societal lockdowns in April, 4imprint’s order counts were down more than 80% year on year; they’re now running at better than half of what was seen in 2019. Through the first two months of 2020, before the pandemic swept through North America and Europe, 4imprint’s order counts were up 13% over 2019.

“Although significant uncertainty remains over the likely duration and extent of the pandemic, the (4imprint) board is confident that the core strength of the (company’s) highly flexible business model and competitive positioning will allow it to take advantage of the opportunity presented by a recovering market, leaving it well placed to reestablish the growth pattern of recent years,” said Paul Moody, chairman of 4imprint.

With reported 2019 North American promotional product revenue of $839.3 million, 4imprint ranks first on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry.