Breville to build up inventory in the US and cut back on Chinese production ‘as quickly as possible’

Australian kitchen appliances maker Breville says it will build up its inventory in the US as a bulwark in case a trade war breaks out and will wind back production in China.

Donald Trump during his first presidency with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. The prospect of another trade war has rattled Breville. Picture: AFP

Kitchen appliances maker Breville group is concerned a tariff war may break out when Donald Trump returns to the White House, and is rushing stock into the US to get ahead of any higher tariffs for Chinese-made goods.

Breville, partly owned by billionaire retailer Solomon Lew, however said in a trading update at its annual general meeting in Sydney on Thursday that its sales trajectory was resilient across its key geographies heading into the first half of fiscal 2025.

Despite a 34 per cent rise in the Breville share price over the past 12 months, which has benefited Mr Lew’s Premier Investments, angry investors voted against a series of remuneration resolutions at the AGM to almost hand the toaster, juicer and coffee machine maker a “first strike”.

Breville received a 16.16 per cent vote against the adoption of its remuneration report – short of the 25 per cent needed for a first strike – and later there was a stronger 27.19 per cent vote against the grant of performance rights to chief executive Jim Clayton and a 28.72 per cent vote against a suite of termination benefits for Mr Clayton.

Mr Clayton and Breville declined to comment on the strong vote against the three remuneration-linked items.

A day after the US election, Mr Clayton told shareholders in his CEO address that “now that Trump has won the US presidential election, the near-term risk of material tariff increases on consumer goods coming out of China has solidified”.

Breville chief executive Jim Clayton. Picture: John Feder

As a result, Breville will accelerate its build-up of inventory in the US and move some production of its products out of China “as quickly as possible”. Breville earns almost half of its annual sales in the Americas.

Shares in Breville initially fell more than 5 per cent when the market opened on Thursday, making it one of the biggest losers from the US election outcome.

In terms of trading, Mr Clayton said the business had experienced positive growth in the new financial year. However, costs of doing business continued to be a drag on margins.

“The positive trends we saw in the second half of fiscal 2024 have continued through the first half of 2025,” he said.

“Period to date, all three theatres are performing well. As expected, logistics costs have ticked up, most of which has been offset by reductions in free on-board (shipping) flowing through.

“On the whole, the business is performing between the goalposts, so we continue to operate within our fiscal 2025 planning parameters.”

Premier Investments and Mr Lew’s family interests together own about 30 per cent of Breville and are the company’s largest shareholder. The chairman of Breville is former merchant banker Tim Antonie, who is also a director of Premier Investments.