Revenue up – but profits down – at Marks Electrical
Leicester-based electrical goods retailer, Marks Electrical, has seen revenue soar by almost a quarter for the six months to September 30.
The company posted revenues of £53.9m over the first half of its financial.
However, Marks’ profit dropped to £873,000 from £1.7m as inflationary pressures took hold.
The firm said that it had experienced continued double-digit revenue growth in October and a strong start to November.
Mark Smithson, CEO, said: “We’ve made a strong start to the year with the Group’s sales up 24.8%, whilst also delivering multiple operational improvements to further enhance the customer experience. This relentless focus on operational excellence and customer service has enabled us to continue to gain share in a very competitive market, growing our share in the first half from 2.4% to 2.9% of the overall MDA market and from 4.5% to 5.4% in the online segment.
“Our strategic decision to add in-house installation services to our offering has strengthened the Group’s premium service proposition, alongside the creation of our own ME Academy training facility. These additions, whilst margin dilutive in the short term, will enable the Group to deliver long-term value creation and position us as the UK’s leading premium electrical retailer.
“Despite the first half margin pressure, which occurred within distribution costs, we continued to remain disciplined on marketing costs, maintained our focus on overhead cost control and are continuing to gain market share profitably, a key differentiator of our growth strategy.
“As momentum builds going into the peak trading period, with continued double-digit revenue growth in October and a strong start to November, our focus on operational excellence and customer service, combined with our strong net cash position, provides us with a robust platform to improve profitability in the second half and achieve our full year targets.”
