5th Oct 2021 12:21
(Alliance News) - ScS Group PLC on Tuesday shared the success of its "refreshed" digital strategy through a swing to profit and reinstating a full-year dividend payout, though did note supply chain issues.
ScS shares were down 4.5% at 259.82 pence in London on Tuesday.
The Sunderland-based company, which sells furniture and flooring from 100 stores across the UK, posted pretax profit of GBP22.7 million in the year to July 31 from a loss of GBP3.1 million the year before. Revenue climbed to GBP310.6 million from GBP255.5 million.
Like-for-like order intake in the year was down 1.5% on 2020 and down 6.5% on 2019, but 2021 saw stores closed for 17 weeks compared with nine weeks in 2020.
However, like-for-like order intake from April to July was up 55% on 2020 and 60% on 2019.
Online sales more than doubled in the year to GBP46.9 million from GBP19.1 million following "continued investment in our online business coupled with an increase in online shopping during the periods of store closures," ScS said.
"The launch of our new website at the start of the year enabled us to improve our offering to customers moving online following the store closures," commented Chief Executive Steve Carson.
"This period of online-only sales provided valuable insight that supported the business' plans to push on with further web enhancements."
The sofa specialist declared a final dividend of 7.0 pence for a 10.0p full-year payout, compared to no dividend last year.
It said trading since the period-end has been in line with management's expectations, with order intake up 12% on 2019.
"We are delighted with the strong orders performance since the start of the new financial year," added Carson.
"However, we are cognisant of the ongoing challenges we, and many other businesses, are facing with regards to the supply chain, including driver shortages, raw material increases and shipping costs and delays."
By Josie O'Brien; [email protected]
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