Fishing Republic reels in 41% rise in revenues

Supplies business Fishing Republic has seen revenues rise 41%, to £5.8m, just over a year after listing on the stock exchange. .

The Rotherham business launched to the markets in June 2015, and since then has seen impressive growth, with a market capitalisation of more than £16m.

For the year to December 2016, profit before tax on ordinary activities rose to £402,901, from £5,718 the year before – though it should be noted that it was under private ownership until halfway through 2015.

During the year, it also added five new stores, in Hull, South Birmingham, Crewe, Lincoln and Mildenhall in Cambridgeshire, taking its store network to 12.

It remains ambitious in its growth plans, having raised £3.75m to support expansion, It has also brought on board new shareholders including retail analyst and William Currie investment group founder Bill Currie, Iain McDonald and former Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy.

James Newman, Chairman, said:”Fishing Republic has made strong progress over the year as we continued with expansion plans to build a significant position in the fishing tackle marketplace.

“The outlook for the Group remains very positive. The fishing tackle marketplace is large but highly fragmented, with over 2,000 mainly owner-operated businesses and we continue to see a substantial growth opportunity for the Group and our multi-channel model.”

Steve Gross, chief executive (pictured) said: “It has been another encouraging year of progress. The new funds we raised in late June 2016 helped to support the continuing development and expansion of our store network and have also enabled us to accelerate our plans to develop the Group’s online platform and digital strategy, and transition online sales to our own websites, away from our historical model of third party platforms.

“Our store expansion is progressing very well and we have a further three stores earmarked for opening over the coming months which will take the total number of our outlets to 18. The main fishing season, which typically starts in the second quarter of the year, has begun well and we view prospects for ongoing growth very positively as we capitalise on our ‘first mover’ advantage.”

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