Music company hitting the right notes
Online musical instruments and music equipment retailer Gear4Music has today today announced total sales figures of £31.2m for the six months to August – a 44% increase from the same period last year.
The York-based company also saw customer numbers increase by 44% to 390,000 and a good start to new distribution centres in Sweden and Germany.
Gear4music’s chief executive officer, Andrew Wass, said: “Revenue growth in our core UK market continues to be strong, alongside very strong growth in our international markets, driven by our new distribution centres improving our customer proposition resulting in market share gains across Northern Europe.
“We remain focused on delivering long-term sustainable growth through investment in our people, products, websites and operational capabilities, and raising £4.2m growth capital in May 2017 has enabled us to start accelerating investment in these key areas. The Group continues to trade in line with our expectations and is well prepared for a busy seasonal period.”
The update comes at the company announced the purchase of a new head office in York, with support from a funding package worth £3.7 million from HSBC.
The business, established in 2003, outgrew its previous offices at Clifton Moor after enjoying rapid growth and quadrupling its workforce over the past four years.
Gear4music bought its new 50,000 sq. ft. property, located in Holgate Park, York, for £5.3 million. The significant investment in the offices will provide improved facilities for its existing 210 staff and room to further expand its workforce.
The new premises will also provide the business with additional capacity to support its growth plans, including expanding its presence in Europe and beyond. Gear4music currently sells in 150 countries worldwide with exports accounting for a third of the business’s total revenue.
Chris Scott, chief financial officer of Gear4music, said: “HSBC’s financial backing helped us find a solution to our office capacity problem as well as enabling us to commit to keeping our headquarters and operations in our home city of York. We are a fast-growing business and our new HQ gives us the resource to continue to further develop the business and win new customers across the UK and abroad.”
