12th Nov 2014 09:08
LONDON (Alliance News) - Card Factory PLC Wednesday said it was continuing to trade in line with its own expectations, with like-for-like sales at its existing stores up in the last nine months and 48 net new stores opened.
In a statement, the specialist greeting card and gifts retailer said revenue was up 8.7% in the nine months to end-October, driven b a combination of like-for-like sales growth, new store roll out and further growth in the complementary online division. The figure is down slightly from the 9.0% growth it had booked for the same nine months of 2013.
It opened 12 net new stores in its fiscal third quarter alone, bringing its total estate to 761 stores by the end of October. It said it remains on track to open about 50 net new stores in the current financial year, and remains confident it has the potential to expand the total portfolio to 1,200 stores, having already identified locations.
It said it expects to open about another 50 net new stores in its next financial year to January 31, 2016.
Card Factory said net debt at the end of October was similar to that at the end of July, as profit generation was offset by its Christmas stock building, but it expects to report a further debt reduction by the end of the financial year.
Card Factory shares were down 0.2% at 234.00 pence Wednesday morning.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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