Trading Statement

RNS Number : 0057R

Gear4music (Holdings) PLC

04 March 2016

 

4 March 2016

Gear4music (Holdings) plc

Trading Update

Gear4music (Holdings) plc ("Gear4music" or "the Company"), the largest UK based online retailer of musical instruments and music equipment, today announces a year-end trading update covering the 12 months to 29 February 2016.

£'000	12 months to 29 February 2016	12 months to 28 February 2015	% change
UK sales	26,016	18,763	+39%
European sales	9,473	5,477	+73%
Total sales	35,489	24,240	+46%

Highlights

·     46% increase in total like-for-like sales following strong growth in both the UK and Europe

·     Strong European sales growth during 2016, in part driven by competitive pricing

·     Over 190,000 new customers added in the year

·     Following a successful trial over Christmas, seven days a week dispatch and delivery has been continued across a large range of products, and continues to drive sales volumes and positive customer feedback

Gear4music's Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Wass, said:

"We have been extremely pleased with the trading performance of Gear4music over the year. It's been a pivotal 12 months for the business as we've been able to deliver strong growth in both the UK and Europe, whilst completing our IPO.

We continue to execute our strategy with proceeds from the IPO invested into stock, systems and website improvements which, combined with the hard work of our growing and talented team, has helped us to significantly increase our market share. This has resulted in revenues and profits for the financial year being at the higher end of the Board's expectations.

We believe that the Company is well capitalised and well positioned to continue implementing our profitable growth strategy, as we build on the success of our UK and international expansion with a constantly improving customer proposition."

The Company will report results for the financial year on 10 May 2016.

- Ends -

For further information please contact

Gear4music                                                                                                                                        [phone]

Andrew Wass, Chief Executive Officer

Chris Scott, Chief Financial Officer

Panmure Gordon                                                                                                                             [phone]

(Financial Adviser, Nominated Adviser and Broker)

Fred Walsh / Peter Steel / Duncan Monteith - Investment Banking

Erik Anderson / Tom Salvesen - Corporate Broking

MHP Communications (Financial PR)                                                                                     [phone]

Andrew Leach

Simon Hockridge

Charlotte Coulson

Background to Gear4music

Operating from an office, showroom and distribution centre in York, the Group sells own-brand musical instruments and music equipment alongside premium third party brands including Fender, Yamaha and Gibson, to customers ranging from beginners to musical enthusiasts and professionals, in the UK and, more recently, into Europe.

Having developed its own ecommerce platform, with multilingual, multicurrency and fully responsive design websites covering 19 countries, the Group has rapidly expanded its database and continues to build its overseas presence.

 

END

 

 

TSTKMGGFKFVGVZM