Bumper Christmas for Gear4music as sales rise 55%

ONLINE musical instruments and music equipment retailer Gear4music’s total sales rose to £24.4m in the four months to the end of December – 55% up on the prior year as it continued to see strong growth in the UK and Europe.

The York-based group, which completed its IPO in June 2015 raising £10.3m, said a 63% growth in sales of own-brand products supported strong gross margins.

Active customer numbers rose by 53% to 324,000 in the year to the end of December.

Gear4music also said its Swedish distribution centre is now active and that the facility in Germany is on track to be operational by the end of the financial year.

(RELATED=741238}

Gear4music’s chief executive Andrew Wass said: “We continued to deliver a strong sales performance during the last four months including the festive period, and with year to date growth of 63%, the group remains on-track to deliver annual revenues in-line with the board’s expectations.

“We were particularly pleased with our Own-brand sales performance during the period, which was driven by improving conversion rates and investment in additional stock. As a result of this and a controlled overhead cost base, the board is now confident that Gear4music is well placed to deliver profits for the full year that will be ahead of the increased expectations signalled at the half year stage.

“As the business continues its programme of investment into distribution centres, websites, systems, products and people, we remain confident of delivering on our growth strategy.”