Catalogues boost Original Factory Shop’s numbers

THE Original Factory Shop has reported a 12.5% increase in sales during the first three months to July 1, with like-for-like revenues 5% higher.

The Burnley-based discount homeware retailer also said that margins had significantly improved, and EBITDA had grown by over 20%.
Around half of its extra sales came from a new in-store catalogue launch, which also helped the firm to post a record week of online sales in the week ending June 3.

The company, whose 2011 sales grew by 1.5% to over £138m in what it described as “a challenging year for the retail sector”, said that it has also opened eight of the 15 new stores planned for 2012 in the first quarter of the year, bringing its total count to 180. One of these – a 9,000 sq ft store at Abergele in North Wales – has become the company’s second-biggest in sales terms.

It has also refurbished five existing stures during the quarter, and expects to complete ten more before the Christmas trading period.

CEO Angela Spindler said: “We are swimming upstream strategically and bucking the trend by opening stores and trading strongly on Britain’s small town high streets.

“We will always be committed to Britain’s small town high streets, and further to the 15 new stores we will open this year, we see there being scope for a network of 450 stores across UK high streets over the medium term. 

“We look forward to continued momentum and growth in 2012.”

The Original Factory Shop was established in 1969 as part of the Peter Black group  selling surplus M&S stock. In December 2007, private equity firm Duke Street Capital took a majority stake in £69m management buy-out deal.