11th Dec 2024 10:43
(Alliance News) - ProCook Group PLC on Wednesday said consumer caution ahead of the UK government budget announcement at the end of October hurt sales, but shop footfall has since picked up.
ProCook shares were down 8.2% to 34.06 pence on Wednesday morning in London. The stock remains up 27% over the past 12 months.
The Gloucester, England-based kitchenwares retailer said its pretax loss for the financial half-year that ended October 28 was unchanged annually at GBP3.2 million.
Revenue rose by 7.5% to GBP28.3 million from GBP26.3 million, but cost of sales also increased, and ProCook took a GBP377,000 non-operating loss compared to a GBP513,000 such gain a year before.
On a like-for-like basis, revenue improved by 4.2%, which ProCook said represented outperformance of the wider UK kitchenware market. It said 315,000 new customers shopped at ProCook for the first time during the half-year, up 9.8%.
In the first eight weeks of the third-quarter, including the Black Friday sales promotion and early Christmas trading, revenue was 7.5% higher on-year and up 0.9% like-for-like.
"Retail performance was hampered by weak footfall during the early weeks of the second half, coinciding with the budget event, but has improved since. As a result, retail like for like revenue was [down] 4.0%. New stores contributed a further [10.3 percentage] points to deliver total retail revenue growth of 6.3% over the eight weeks," ProCook said.
It will release a third-quarter trading update in early- to mid-January.
Commented Chief Executive Officer Lee Tappenden: "We delivered a strong performance in the first half, outperforming a subdued market, and growing our customer base whilst maintaining cost discipline. We have made good progress against our strategic priorities and continue to invest carefully in the areas that will support profitable growth in the medium term."
ProCook opened four new stores during the first half and a further five in the recent eight weeks.
Tappenden said the company will open three more stories in the remainder of its financial year, which ends in April, adding a net 10 new stores for the full year. It currently has 64 own-brand stores and aims to have 100 in the medium term, bringing in GBP100 million in annual revenue at a 10% operating profit margin.
ProCook pays no dividend.
By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor
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