Aga forges overseas to find growth The iconic cooker brand battled a 2.5pc slip in sales to £244.6m in 2012 to post a 12pc jump in pre-tax profit to £8.6m, by relentlessly trimming costs to overcome sluggish trade in its key British market. Leamington-based Aga , which saw sales grow in France, Holland and Belgium, and expects North America to be its fastest growing market this year, hopes its overseas business will overtake British sales in coming years. It also expects to start selling its cookers in China this year. Aga currently generates 37pc of sales outside Britain. The company has been hit hard by a languid housing market in the UK, along with a slowdown in home improvement as squeezed households hold back from big ticket purchases. It has slimmed down substantially in the past decade, having sold a series of businesses in the run-up to the financial crisis and cutting costs almost every year since. In 2012 it closed some retail outlets to focus on larger showrooms. "The strength of our product offering and the efficiencies of our operations increased further in 2012, but there was little respite to the long running weakness of the consumer markets in which we operate," said the chairman and chief executive in a statement. William McGrath, chief executive, said despite tough trading conditions, he expected "greater impetus" to sales in coming months, and had already seen sales pick up in February. Aga said it was not recommending a final dividend, having paid 1.9 pence in 2011. Shares in Aga rose 1.18pc in early trading on Friday.