Mountain Warehouse full year sales up 22%
Outdoor retailer Mountain Warehouse has achieved its 21st year of unbroken sales growth with sales rising by 22% to £225.3 million in the 12 months to 25 February.
Like-for-like sales in the period rose by 14% while EBITDA climbed by 30.4% to £32.6 million.
Meanwhile pre-tax profit was up 35.6% to reach a record £26.6 million as the retailer enjoyed strong online demand and benefited from the opening of 25 stores in places like Fareham, Southwold, Oxford, Woodbridge, Malvern, Lyme Regis, Amersham and Crewe.
While online sales grew by 32% and now account for a quarter of sales, international sales rose by 36.5% to represent almost 30% of sales. Since the year-end, Mountain Warehouse has opened its first stores in New Zealand and Holland which means it now has a presence in nine countries.
Mountain Warehouse founder and chief executive Mark Neale said: “We’ve all seen the struggles some retail businesses are having. At Mountain Warehouse our relentless focus on value for money, everyday outdoor gear for all the family has continued to resonate with our customers.
“We grew rapidly during the last downturn and I’m confident we will continue to grow over the coming year. We do not subscribe to talk about the death of the high street. If you have the right products at the right price, with good service, customers will keep shopping with you if you have the right retail locations.”
Looking ahead, Neale sees scope to eventually have more than 300 UK stores, and for the international arm to be at least as big as the UK business.
Openings in the current financial year will include another eight branches of Neon Sheep, a chain selling quirky, impulse gifts, which the company launched last year.
In November 2015, the company also launched a ‘sporty sister brand’ Zakti as a means of entering the ‘athleisure’ market. During the past year the Zakti range has been rolled out to all Mountain Warehouse stores in the UK.
