26th Sep 2013 08:49
LONDON (Alliance News) - Crawshaw Group PLC, the meat-focused food retailer, Thursday said it tripled profits in the first half of the year, as good BBQ weather in July boosted UK sales and a new sales drive led to an increase in staff hours within its shops.
The food store chain said now that its trading performance has begun to recover, it is considering re-starting its expansion programme, but did not disclose further detail.
Crawshaw said that trading so far in the second half of the year has been encouraging, with like-for-like sales for the first eight weeks of the second half up 10%, and a gross margin in line with the first half.
The group said that it tripled its pretax profit in the first half of the year ended July 31 to GBP0.3 million, compared with GBP0.1 million a year earlier. It reported a net profit of GBP273,000 compared to GBP90,000 a year earlier.
Overall sales rose to GBP9.8 million, from GBP9.3 million a year earlier. Gross profit increased 6% to GBP4.3 million, while gross margin improved to 43.9%.
Crawshaw declared an interim dividend of 0.09 pence per share, following its first-ever dividend declared in April.
Crawshaw Group shares were up 15% at 8.50 pence per share Thursday morning.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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