Park confident of a happy Christmas
PARK Group, the multi-retailer gift voucher and prepaid gift card provider, is in confident mood ahead of the critical Christmas trading period.
The Birkenhead-based, AIM-listed firm, which has transformed itself from a Christmas hampers savings firm, traditionally makes a loss during its first half, due to the fact that the bulk of its annual revenues are booked in the second half.
In the six months to the end of September, Park saw revenues jums from £58.5m to £72m, while losses fell £1m to £1.4m.
Customer billings, up 23% at £92.7m from £75.4m in the first half of 2014, were the key driver of growth.
Its corporate business, which supplies more than 7,000 organisations, delivered another strong performance. The business incorporates a wide range of gift cards, vouchers and e-codes in its tailor-made schemes which are designed for customer organisations to recognise, incentivise and reward staff for excellent performance. Corporate billings to third party customers rose by 12.8% to £66.m.
The consumer business, which offers a wide range of vouchers, prepaid cards, hampers and other gift products, had an excellent first half with billings rising by 59% to £26.8m. Park said this increase reflects strong customer demand.
Chief executive Chris Houghton, said: “The second half has started well, as we enter the key delivery period, with orders significantly ahead of the same period last year. Park looks forward with confidence and is well placed to deliver another strong performance.”
In line with its bullish outlook, Park boosted its interim dividend from 0.8p to 0.85p per share.
