SALES at a Blackburn-based wallpaper manufacturer have been hit by challenging financial conditions in Russia, it has been reported.

According to its latest set of accounts, Graham and Brown posted a turnover of £72.8million in 2015, down by three per cent on the previous year.

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UK turnover dropped by four per cent to £35.4million while overseas turnover decreased by three per cent to £37.3million over the same period.

Andrew Graham, chief executive of Graham and Brown, said: “Export sales were adversely affected last year by a number of challenging market conditions, specifically severe currency volatility and geopolitical uncertainty in Russia.

“We’re continuing to invest in developing our core export markets, having launched a number of new overseas partnerships and an exciting new line up of product.

“The UK market is also markedly softer, with consumer confidence subdued by the Brexit vote.

“We expect this uncertainty to continue impacting discretionary household spending in the months ahead.

“Despite this, wallpaper is currently experiencing a resurgence, buoyed further last week by International Wallpaper Week, a global initiative led by Graham and Brown.

“Having invested significantly in our ecommerce platform and brand, and having reduced operating costs, we’re well placed to create momentum into 2017.”

The East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce has said that on the whole, there has been a period of uncertainty and turmoil following the Brexit vote.

However, Mandy Lockett, international business director, said that the pound at the moment is quite good for exports.

She said: “There has been some uncertainty and turmoil since the Brexit vote but the pound is very good for exporting at the moment, not so good for importing.

“We haven’t seen too much of a drop in export sales for a lot of manufacturers but last year the pound was tougher so that maybe why the Graham and Brown figures are like this.

“I can understand that Russia in particular is a difficult market to deal with and it make progress with.

“You never really know what is going to happen next in the financial market but at the moment on the whole I do think the situation is positive for manufacturers in terms of exports.”