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Card Factory enjoys strong Christmas as it eyes £62m profits

Retailer Card Factory says strong Christmas trading has helped it notch up strong sales last year as it expects adjusted profits near to £62m.

The Wakefield-based firm, which has more than 1,000 shops across the UK and Ireland, told investors sales in the 11 months to the end of December reached £476.9m, compared with £432.6m the year before. And like-for-like store revenues were up 7.8% in the run up to Christmas driven by more shoppers and a higher spend per basket.

Bosses celebrated the chain’s low cost offer across cards and gifts as they reported an 8.2% rise in like-for-like shop revenues. Meanwhile online sales – from the firms cardfactory.co.uk and gettingpersonal.co.uk websites – fell 12.8%, though the firm said it was investing in its digital capabilities.

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In April, Card Factory acquired South African cards and gifts wholesales SA Greetings in a £2.5m. The business, which has a head office and main warehouse in Johannesburg, was said to have performed in line with expectations, generating £9.1m of revenue in the 11-month period.

In a review of its pre-Christmas trading across November and December, Card Factory said its introduction of a wider range of gifts and some licensed ranges, as well as its own label, had gone down well with customers. And work on the layout of shops and supply efficiencies had set it up to take advantage of strong demand towards the end of December.

Darcy Willson-Rymer, chief executive officer, said: “We are pleased to have delivered a strong performance over the Christmas period, further demonstrating the progress we are making on our strategic growth initiatives. Our value and quality proposition continues to resonate with customers at a time when value for money is as important as ever. Even during challenging times, consumers want to celebrate key life moments and this was reflected in the positive performance that we saw in the Christmas trading period and throughout the year to date.

“Colleagues across all areas of our business have worked incredibly hard to deliver an improved experience for our customers this year. As we look ahead, we remain focused on delivering against our growth strategy by helping our customers to affordably celebrate all life’s moments.”

Original artice – https://business-live.co.uk/all-about/yorkshire-humber

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