Card Factory benefits from pandemic recovery as consumers return to high street
Greetings and gift specialists Card Factory had bumper revenue and profits in the first half of the year, as it looks to weather choppy economic waters ahead.
Card Factory made £198m in the first six months of the year, up almost 70 per cent on the same period last year, while its earnings before tex were up 85 per cent.
Making a £14m profit following last year’s £6.6m loss in the first half of the year, the 320 per cent increase was put down to a new strategy in store and online.
While cardfactory.co.uk sales were down year-on-year, it opened a trial store in central London with a second having started business since the end of June. It also rolled out a new model in five new locations.
The firm is however “mindful of the challenging economic backdrop” as it looks to manage rising inflation and energy costs “through a combination of targeted price increases and efficiency measures”.
Praising the firm’s “reversal of lockdown trends” as it returned to profit, chief executive Darcy Willson-Rymer, said “the pronounced shift in spend back towards stores supports our continued conviction in the value of our store estate”.
“We recently opened stores in central London for the first time, with two trial stores forming part of our strategy to increase our presence in under-penetrated markets.”
Despite inflation Willson-Rymer said Card Factory had taken “pre-emptive actions” including “fixing of energy costs until September 2024 and targeted price increases, to offset the problem.