2nd Oct 2018 09:24
LONDON (Alliance News) - Furniture retailer ScS Group PLC on Tuesday reported an increase in annual profit on higher sales and upped its dividend by 10%.
In the year ended July 28, ScS pretax profit increased 10% to GBP13.2 million from GBP12.0 million the year before.
The company's gross sales were broadly flat at GBP352.3 million from GBP349.5 million on a revenue increase of 1.3% to GBP337.3 million from GBP333.0 million.
ScS said its four new store openings in the year contributed an additional GBP6.0 million to gross sales year-on-year.
ScS saw a 7.1% increase in flooring sales in-store to GBP42.8 million with an increase in total online sales of 23% to GBP13.8 million.
The furniture and flooring seller said its 27 House of Fraser concessions, which represented 7.1% of gross sales, have had a "particularly challenging year". The company said it is still trading from all of its concessions but order performance has "has continued to be disappointing".
ScS is recommending a final dividend of 10.90 pence per share, resulting in a full year dividend of 16.20p, a 10% increase on last year's payout of 14.70p.
The company's confidence in its outlook is the reason for the increase, despite the "continued uncertain economic environment".
ScS' sales order intake is up 2.1% on a like-for-like bases for the nine weeks to September 29, which the company described as "pleasing" and in line with its own expectations.
Chief Executive Officer David Knight said: "2018 has been another strong year. Despite a prolonged period of economic uncertainty and challenging trading conditions, we have continued to grow the business. I believe this is due to our continued focus on what we do best - ensuring that we offer an excellent customer experience with outstanding value, quality and choice. The downturn in sales in our House of Fraser concessions has been more than offset by growth in our core ScS business. This has been aided by record results from our online channel, which has seen a 23% increase in gross sales."
"We will continue to focus on our value offering and we believe the group's increasing resilience and strong cash flow dynamics will enable us to manage the continued economic uncertainty and take advantage of opportunities as they arise, allowing us to continue to deliver value for our shareholders."
Shares in ScS were up 8.0% Tuesday at 215.00 pence each.
Related Shares:
SCS.L