Revenues up at Card Factory
Wakefield-headquarted greeting cards and gifts specialist Card Factory has reported revenue of £196m in its interim results for the six months ending 31 July 2019, up from £185.3m for the previous period.
But the business also saw its pre-tax profits drop to £24.3m, down from £28.4m.
Overall Card Factory like-for-like sales saw a growth of 1.5%, with 26 net new stores opened, helping to drive additional revenue growth.
The firm’s update also reported: “Following a successful trial across over 130 stores, we now have an agreement with Aldi to supply half of their UK estate, totalling 440 stores, from November 2019.
“We have an exclusive partnership with the largest greeting cards retailer in Australia – “The Reject Shop” – to supply all of their 360 stores with Card Factory branded cards from January 2020, and branded concessions being trialled in 15 Matalan stores,
“The underlying card market remains resilient despite continuing weaker consumer confidence.
“There is a strong pipeline of new store opportunities – we’re on track to deliver approximately 50 net new UK and Republic of Ireland openings by the year end.
“And we are currently in discussion with a number of other potential retail partners in the UK and overseas.”
Karen Hubbard, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We have delivered a satisfactory sales performance in the first half of the year.
“A strong seasonal performance, which saw another year of record sales for both Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, was achieved against the backdrop of an increasingly challenging UK high street environment and consequent weaker footfall.
“The successful seasonal trading, combined with more sophisticated use of data and improvements to our customer experience, gives us confidence for the key Christmas trading period ahead.
“We are pleased with the progress made on the strategic initiatives that are underway. These include using consumer insight to develop our customer proposition across all channels and a number of commercial partnerships.
“Maintaining a sharp focus on the execution of these various initiatives is a key priority for the senior leadership team.
“Although the current economic uncertainty continues to impact consumer confidence, we remain positive about the resilience of the card market, the strength of the Card Factory business model, and our growth opportunities for the business over the medium term.”
