CARD FACTORY is to put a surprise gift in its cards to shareholders after it decided to pay out a special dividend of £50m.
The cash-rich retailer has enjoyed another strong trading period, with sales and profitability both showing healthy improvements.
Like-for-like sales for the six months to July showed a 2.7% increase, while total revenues were up 8.0% to £161.4m, boosted by the retailer’s ongoing store expansion programme that saw it increase its store portfolio by 36 to reach 800. Its online division, Getting Personal, increased sales by one-quarter to £6.9m.
Financing costs relating to its IPO last year distort some comparisons on profitability, but Card Factory’s underlying EBITDA increased 7.7% to £32.5m.
Richard Hayes, Card Factory’s chief executive, said: “It is encouraging to report another strong set of interim results with growth in both revenue and profit. We continue to deliver on each of our four growth pillars: growing like-for-like sales, rolling out new stores, delivering business efficiencies and growing our online businesses.
“It is also pleasing to announce a special dividend, in keeping with our commitment to return surplus cash to shareholders.”
Card Factory has continued to perform strongly since its flotation in May 2014 valued the company at £740m. Its share price has climbed steadily from 225p and closed last night at 359p, which values the company at £1.22bn.
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