Card Factory sales better than expected after stores reopen
Card Factory has announced that initial sales since its stores reopened after the easing of lockdown restrictions in England and Wales have exceeded expectations.
In a trading update, the greeting cards retailer also said the performance was better than the reopening periods following the first and second UK Covid-19 lockdowns.
However, after the initial strong demand was satisfied store like-for-like sales for the first five weeks were marginally down compared to the same period in 2019. The company said increased spend per transaction has offset a reduction in retail footfall as its customers are shopping less frequently but buying more.
Darcy Willson-Rymer, chief executive of Card Factory, said: “We welcome our colleagues and customers back into our stores, providing the quality ranges at competitive prices which our customers have missed whilst stores were closed. The strong trading performance in our stores over the last few weeks reflects the extensive preparations to maximise meeting our customers’ needs completed by the wider Card Factory team.”
Card Factory said sales from its online channels have fallen as expected due to stores reopening, but are exceeding pre-pandemic levels with the performance in line with management expectations.
In addition, Card Factory has confirmed that it has completed a £225 million refinancing with its current banking syndicate.
