Momentum returns to musical instruments retailer despite marketing challenges

York-headquartered musical instruments and music equipment business, Gear4Music, says it returned to revenue growth in FY25 Q2 as it releases a trading update for the six months to 30 September 2024.

For the six month period the company recorded total revenues of £61.7m (FY24 H1: £62.6m).

The firm’s EBITDA is expected to be £2.9m (FY24 H1 reported EBITDA £2.4m, FY24 adjusted EBITDA £2.9m), while its reported loss before tax is expected to improve by £700,000 to £1.2m compared with FY24 H1.

Executive chair, Andrew Wass, said: “We are pleased to report good progress in executing the growth strategy we announced in June, with a return to growth in FY25 Q2 and further growth momentum during October trading to date.

“We are also pleased to have further reduced our Net Debt, and improved our overall profitability compared with the same period last year.

“This performance comes despite initial challenges with the rollout of a new AI-based marketing system during H1, which temporarily increased marketing costs and impacted the sales mix between our own-brand and other-brand products and our European sales.

“These issues have now been resolved, and our marketing investments have stabilised.”

During the period, the company acquired the brand, IP and other assets of Studiospares Europe Ltd for £150,000, further expanding its own-brand portfolio.

The business says its full-year outlook remains in line with consensus market expectations for the year ending 31 March 2025: revenue of £154.7m, EBITDA of £11.7m and profit before tax of £2.8m.

Gear4Music will report its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2024 on 19 November 2024.