13th May 2019 09:30
LONDON (Alliance News) - Angling Direct PLC said Monday it swung to an annual loss for its recently ended financial year due to higher administrative expenses, despite double digit growth in revenue.
For the year to the end of January, the fishing equipment retailer reported a pretax loss of GBP235,000, compared with a profit of GBP159,000 the year before.
This was mainly on administrative expenses, which rose to GBP11.2 million from GBP7.2 million. Angling Direct said the increased costs was from "investing in the infrastructure of our business for the future".
Revenue, however, increased by 39% to GBP42.0 million from GBP30.2 million, due to strong sales growth both online and in-store.
Revenue from online sales was the biggest contributor, increasing by 30% to GBP22.3 million, while store sales saw the highest growth rate at 50% to GBP19.7 million.
Operationally, Angling Direct has increased its store network to 24 stores at the year-end from 21 the prior year, and has targeted the opening of seven additional stores during its current financial year.
Angling Direct decided against paying a dividend in order to preserve cash for re-investment in the business and increasing the group's scale. It does not expect to pay a dividend in the "short term" but will keep its dividend policy under review.
Looking ahead, Angling Direct said in the first two months of its current financial year, like-for-like sales were up by 29% and overall sales by 51% compared to the same period the year before.
"We are excited by the sales growth outside the UK through our native language websites, which will be a key focus for the group in 2019. The European market is highly fragmented with limited competition online. We expect to increase our market share through targeted marketing campaigns, unrivalled customer experience and carefully considered M&A opportunities," said Executive Chair Martyn Page.
Shares in Angling Direct were down 0.6% at 82.00 pence each on Monday.
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