Card Factory grows sales and profits despite softer footfall
Greeting cards retailer Card Factory has grown its first half sales and profits despite softer footfall impacting trade from its stores.
In the six months to 31 July, underlying pre-tax profit rose by 7.3% to £27.6 million while revenues increased by 4.8% to £169.2 million.
Meanwhile, like-for-like sales edged up 0.2% in the period.
Karen Hubbard, Card Factory chief executive, said: “We have delivered a solid set of interim results with further growth in both revenue and profit, albeit with softer footfall resulting in slightly lower than normal sales growth from our stores.
“We remain the clear leaders in our market, with a strong value proposition, a unique vertically integrated operating model, significant scale advantages, and industry-leading margins. The potential for further growth – through like-for-like sales growth, further store roll-out and the full exploitation of our online channels – is exciting.”
Card Factory opened 34 net new stores in the period, bringing the total estate to 848.
The company said improvements in the quality and range of both its card and non-card products had delivered good ongoing growth in average spend.
Reporting on current trading, Hubbard said: “Trading in recent weeks has been similar to the trends seen in the first half, with encouraging continued growth in average spend. We approach the important final quarter with confidence in the quality and value of our offer, including our new Christmas ranges, and remain confident of delivering full year underlying profit before tax within the range of expectations.”
