Card Factory (AIM:CARD) said store sales have exceeded expectations since their reopening since the lockdown period as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company said it has seen like-for-like sales since reopening down 21.6% - compared to an anticipated 50% reduction during the first month.
The UK card retailer despite the number of in-store transactions falling, reflecting footfall levels, the average spend has increased by 24.9%, the company noted this morning.
Online sales from both cardfactory.co.uk and gettingpersonal.co.uk continue to exceed previous year's sales, with like-for-like sales up 68.9% for the financial year to 19 July 2020.
Online sales were up 120.7% during the period of store closures, from 23 March to 14 June 2020 and since stores started to reopen, to 19 July, online like-for-like sales were up 60.5%.
Shares in Card Factory have fallen as low as 24p during lockdown period but were trading 8.25% higher at 44.73 following the statement.
Revenue for the first half of the 2021 financial year is expected to be around £100m (H1 FY20: £195.6m) with the material impact due to the 12 week period of store closures.
The group said it has continued to manage costs, cash and creditors carefully and expects to remain within its revised banking covenants with net debt as at 19 July 2020 at £144.2m, below its original forecast, attributable to, inter alia, increased revenues from all sales.
Outlook
While Card Factory said it is pleased with its performance, it warned that it was ‘far too soon to determine whether initial trading reflects the release of pent-up demand following lockdown or the point at which consumer footfall and sales will settle to a sustainable level.’
Card Factory said it aimed to reach annual sales of £635m, an underlying pre-tax profit of £105m and around 5,600 UK and International distribution points within the next five years.
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