Stellar festive period is music to the ears of newly-listed company

RETAILER Gear4music has had a successful festive period, its first since its mid-year IPO.

Total sales increased by 37% to £10.1m for the two months to 31 December 2015.

European sales increased by more than half, to £2.5m and the company said its success was down to a stronger ecommerce platform.

The York-based company also reported a 63% rise in mobile revenue compared with the same period last year, and it said that sales of microphone and PA systems were strong this year due to a resurgence in the popularity of live performances and music festivals.

In October, the instrument retailer increased revenue by 43% to £12.5m, but pretax losses increased further to £1.06m for the six months to 31 August. Costs of the IPO impacted on these results.

Gear4music’s chief executive officer, Andrew Wass, who launched the company 12 years ago, said: “Gear4music delivered a strong performance during the festive period with more visitors to our websites becoming customers, and increased sales through mobile devices.

“We remain confident that as we continue to enhance our websites, extend our product ranges and strengthen our fulfilment systems, we will deliver results in line with market expectations for the financial year ending 29 February 2016.”