Online retailer announces 18% profit increase
Profits at online retailer Findel were up by 18.9% to just over £23m last year.
The firm, which fought off a takeover bid by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct this year, saw revenues increase by 5.7% to £506.8m and adjusted operating profit was up 14.4% to £38.4m.
The company, which has its headquarters in East Lancashire, announced it is to change its name to Studio Retail Group.
The firm published its full year results this morning.
Findel said product revenue growth of 7.8% was driven by an increase in its active customer base to 1.9m and higher spend per customer.
A focus on value and investment in digital led to online customer ordering increasing to 75% of product revenue.
Financial services revenue increased by 8.6% to £117.5m, with gross profit from financial services increasing by 1%.
Adjusted operating profit margin for the business increased to 9.3%.
Chief executive Phil Maudsley said: “These strong results reflect the clear transformation of the group into a digital-first, value led retailer.
“In particular, Studio has prospered in current market conditions. We have rapidly grown the active customer base to 1.9 million over the last three years, with new customers drawn to the incredible value we offer, while existing customers are shopping with us more frequently and across wider ranges.
“Our education business has also adopted a digital-first mentality with an objective to save schools time and money to win back customers and I am delighted with the progress that continues to be made.
“We look ahead with confidence and ambition, as shown by our proposed name change to Studio Retail Group.
“We remain focused on our customers’ needs, and our investment in digital technologies and delivering on our strategic objectives will underpin profitable growth over the medium term.”
Sports Direct, increased its holding in the group from 29.9% to 36.8% in March which triggered a mandatory bid for the remainder of the group’s shares.
Sports Direct received acceptances of a further 1.0% during this process and the bid was unsuccessful.
Costs totalling £300,000 were incurred by the group in responding to the bid.
