Card Factory sees strong performance in H1 2021, but still turns a loss
Card Factory has seen revenue surge during the first six months of the year, but the greeting cards retailer still ended up in the red.
EBITDA surged by 202.6 per cent, reaching £23.6m in the first half of the year, while revenue jumped by 16.3 per cent year on year to stand at a healthy £116.9m. Despite surging intake the company lost £6.5m in H1 while net debt remained close to £100m.
Darcy Willson-Rymer, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “the delivery of the growth strategy set out in July 2020 – and the broader retail environment itself – has obviously been impacted by Covid-19. However, it is clear that the right way forward is to transition Card Factory from being a store led card retailer into a market leading, omni-channel retailer of cards and gifts.”
Card Factory plans to pivot its focus towards the complementary gifting and party markets. The company has announced the ambitious target of over £600m of sales by FY 2026, with the expectation that approximately 20 per cent of revenue will come from the online store and through retail partnerships.
The retailer will be hard pressed to achieve a near six fold increase in revenue driven by online sales without a major shift in strategy – online revenues fell by more than 10 per cent year on year in the six months to July 2021.
Nonetheless, Card Factory said it was optimistic about the remainder of FY22 as it heads into the Christmas season, even as supply chain disruption, staff shortages, increasing freight costs and increasing energy costs bite.
Card Factory share price is up 51.13 per cent this year to date.
Read more: Card Factory completes £225m refinancing as reopening sales soar