(Alliance News) - Shares in fishing equipment retailer Angling Direct PLC fell Tuesday as the company warned on weak post-Christmas trading.
The stock was 8.03% lower in early trading on Tuesday in London at 63.00 pence a share.
Norwich-based Angling Direct said "exceptional" winter flooding after Christmas has led to lower levels of fishing activity, hurting profit. Further, higher margin consumable products received a disproportionate hit.
On top of this, Angling Direct has taken a "more product" approach to some legacy costs.
As a result, the company sees its loss before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation being no more than GBP500,000 for its year ended January. A year earlier, Angling Direct did not report Ebitda, but posted a pretax loss of GBP266,000.
Despite this, Angling Direct still achieved "strong" growth in its recently-ended financial year. It said revenue was up 27% to GBP53.1 million, with in-store sales rising 41% and 12% like-for-like. Online sales rose 13%, making up nearly half of all sales.
The company added 10 new stores to its footprint during the year, taking the number to 34.
"The company is pleased with the performance of the new stores, although the legacy stock that came with the acquired stores did contribute to margins being lower than the levels to which the board aspires. This stock has been mainly cleared and other actions have been taken to ensure the company returns to expected margin levels in the new financial year and beyond," said Angling Direct.
Online, Angling Direct has been focused on international geographies such as Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Online sales in these countries rose 25%, 71%, and 87%, respectively.
Angling Direct will report annual results on May 13.
By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com
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Angling Direct (ANG)