Park Group hails ‘excellent’ half year
PARK Group, the North West Christmas savings and corporate gift voucher provider, has hailed an “excellent” half year after sales surged and a VAT rebate helped it
declare a rare interim profit.
The Wirral-based company said revenues in the half year surged 49% to £50.9m, driven by the launch in June of its flexecash pre- paid retail card which bhas already ammassed £14m worth of sales.
Even before a £4m VAT rebate Birkenhead-based Park said losses were down 17% on the previous year. The VAT gain allowed Park to declare a half year profit of £500,000 compared with a £4.2m loss last year.
Managing director Chris Houghton told TheBusinessDesk.com: “We are pleased with progress, it has been a very good year with the launch of flexecash and our acquisition in Ireland too.
“It’s going well for this Christmas and at this early stage next Christmas is looking strong.”
He said the woes of the Irish economy would not affect Park, adding: “We have bought a very established Christmas hampers business. If anything people are going to be encouraged to put a little bit of money away each week for Christmas, so I don’t expect a negative impact.”
Chairman and founder Peter Johnson said: “I am pleased to report that Park delivered an excellent result.
“The strong performance of the first period is being maintained with both the Christmas savings and corporate businesses trading ahead of last year.
“The company is well positioned to move ahead strongly benefiting from its innovative and attractive product ranges coupled with the exciting opportunities offered by flexecash, the new prepaid card.”
Founded in 1967, Park employs 220 at its Birkenhead base. An improved interim dividend of 0.5p per share was declared, up from 0.44p per share last year.
