Card Factory delivers “successful” Christmas
Card Factory has said it performed well over its key Christmas trading period with revenue up 4.7% in November and December.
This was driven by a higher average basket value as the retailer benefited from expanded ranges and good sales of gift and celebration items.
Like-for-like store revenue increased by 3% which Card Factory attributed to strength of its seasonal Christmas offer and the positive impact of its ongoing space optimisation programme.
Darcy Willson-Rymer, Card Factory chief executive, said: “We are pleased to have delivered another successful Christmas trading period.
Never Miss a Retail Update!“Expanded ranges and our compelling gift and celebration essentials offer increased basket values during the period, whilst we also saw a resilient performance in seasonal cards, with customers responding well to our strong value and quality ranges.”
The performance meant that Card Factory’s total sales for the 11 months to 31 December grew to £506.6 million from £476.9 million a year earlier.
Total store revenue increased by 5.7% following the addition of 32 net new stores while like-for-like store revenue rose by 3.9%.
However, online like-for-like sales declined by 10% overall, driven predominantly by the performance of gettingpersonal.co.uk.
Meanwhile, like-for-like sales at cardfactory.co.uk edged up 0.5% as the retailer focused on driving profitable growth through higher margin product ranges.
Card Factory is expecting its full year adjusted pre-tax profit to be in line with current market expectations of £65.7 million to £67 million.
Willson-Rymer added: “Continued revenue growth, combined with the benefits of our productivity and efficiency programme, have enabled us to navigate a challenging retail environment and deliver a robust performance in the second half.
“As a result, we expect to deliver full year profits in line with expectations and remain well positioned to manage inflationary pressures in the near term, as we continue to deliver on our strategic growth ambitions.”
Card Factory said changes to National Living Wage and Employer National Insurance Contributions will result in annual cost inflation for its business of around £14 million.
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