Card Factory profits fell 14 per cent in the first six months of its financial year amid Brexit stockpiling despite like-for-like sales beating a negative high street.



The figures



Profit before tax dropped 14.4 per cent year on year to £24.3m for the six months to the end of July as Brexit stockpiling and the National Living Wage weighed on its bottom line.



Revenue grew 5.5 per cent year on year to £195.6m, while like-for-like sales rose 1.5 per cent to beat a 0.2 per cent decline this time last year.



Basic earnings per share also fell almost 15 per cent to 5.7p while Card Factory paid an interim dividend of 2.9p per share, flat on last year.



It also return a special dividend of 5p per share to investors.



What Card Factory said

Chief executive officer Karen Hubbard said:



We have delivered a satisfactory sales performance in the first half of the year. A strong seasonal performance, which saw another year of record sales for both Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, was achieved against the backdrop of an increasingly challenging UK high street environment and consequent weaker footfall.

The successful seasonal trading, combined with more sophisticated use of data and improvements to our customer experience, gives us confidence for the key Christmas trading period ahead.

We are pleased with the progress made on the strategic initiatives that are underway. These include using consumer insight to develop our customer proposition across all channels and a number of commercial partnerships. Maintaining a sharp focus on the execution of these various initiatives is a key priority for the senior leadership team.

Although the current economic uncertainty continues to impact consumer confidence, we remain positive about the resilience of the card market, the strength of the Card Factory business model, and our growth opportunities for the business over the medium term.



Main image credit: Getty