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(Alliance News) - TheWorks.co.uk PLC on Wednesday reported a sharp rise in annual revenue and is confident in future growth as it continues to expand its number of new stores, even as others depart the high street.
Shares in the stationary retailer were 9.1% higher in London in morning trade at 68.44 pence each.
In the 52 weeks to April 28, The Works reported pretax profit of GBP2.3 million, which represents a 12% decrease on the GBP2.6 million reported in the previous year.
The company's revenue, however, increased 13% to GBP217.5 million from GBP192.1 million the year before.
The Works proposed a maiden final dividend of 2.4 pence, taking its full-year dividend to 3.6p.
"The board also intends to continue to review the appropriate capital structure of the group. As stated at the time of the IPO, the board intends to maintain a capital structure that is conservative yet efficient in terms of providing long-term sustainable returns to shareholders," the company explained.
The Works began trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange in July last year.
Chief Executive Kevin Keaney said: "In our first year as a listed business, I am pleased that TheWorks.co.uk has achieved good growth, underpinned by our clear strategy and a consistent focus on our customers.
"Opening new stores remains our biggest driver of growth and we have taken advantage of the favourable property market by opening a net 50 new stores in the year. We delivered good like-for-like sales across all channels, as our continued focus on product newness and our nimble buying strategy enabled us to anticipate customer demand for current trends and seasonal ranges," Keaney added.
In financial 2019, the company saw 3.0% like-for-like sales growth.
Following the 50 new store openings, The Works now has a total to 497 stores. The retailer said it is on track to open an additional 50 new stores in financial 2020.
In the 9 weeks to June 30, The Works said its like-for-like sales growth is "marginally negative".
Keaney said: "This is a challenging environment, however, it also creates opportunities. The structural shift in the retail sector has resulted in a constant flow of more affordable, good quality retail space. We have a full pipeline of new sites and recent openings have continued to perform well.
"We also have exciting plans for Christmas, the key period in leveraging our differentiated customer proposition, by offering a wide range of new products at outstanding value. This, combined with our other growth levers, makes us confident of making further progress in the current year."
