Sales and margins boost at Ryman

RYMAN, the national chain of stationery shops headquartered in Crewe and owned by entrepreneur Theo Paphitis, has reported higher sales and margins for the Christmas trading period.

The company, which has a 237 shops and a recently revamped online presence,  said like-for-like sales were up 1.7% between November 1 and Christmas Eve.  It said customers had responded well to its festive offers and had not had to discount – resulting in improved margins.

The Christmas performance came as Ryman reported like-for-like annual sales growth for the year to March 31 of 0.9%. Total turnover rose 0.8% to £125.4m. Online sales were up 24.7% in the year.

Operating profits were up modestly at £7.1m (£7m in 2012).

The positive Christmas perfomance at Ryman, which Mr Paphitis has owned since 2005, was mirrored at his two other retail businesses, lingerie chain Boux Avenue and Robert Dyas, the homewares business he acquired in July 2012.

Boux Avenue, which has stores in Liverpool and Manchester and was launched in 2011, saw like-for-likes rise 20.2%, while long-running Robert Dyas, which has 96 shops mostly located in the south, grew 5.2%.

Mr Paphitis said: “I am delighted that all three of my retail businesses once again delivered a positive performance over the important Christmas period.
 
“Growth was delivered in all three business both online and in store. This shows that despite the challenges faced by many high streets across the UK, customers continue to respond to the right product, service experience and a convenience offering, where relevant.”

He said the performance of his businesses showed the outlook can be positive despite “the challenging environment” for retailers.