Card Factory online sales surge after lockdown

(Sharecast News) - Card Factory said on Wednesday that online sales have surged since the coronavirus lockdown in March.
While the company's stores remain closed, it has continued to trade both of its online businesses and has seen "significant" growth in visitors, conversion and sales, it said.

Sales from the Cardfactory.co.uk website have grown 267.5% since the lockdown on 23 March, while Gettingpersonal.co.uk has seen sales jump 57.5%. In response to increased demand and to support social distancing, the group has established a second fulfilment unit in Wakefield.

The company also said it is eligible to access funding under the government's Covid Corporate Financing Facility and has in place a ?200m revolving credit facility, maturing in October 2023.

The retailer, which had already announced that it would not be paying a final dividend for FY2020, has furloughed more than 90% of its employees and taken steps such as negotiating rental payments and engaging in discussions with landlords to reduce net cash outflow.

In preparation for reopening, Card Factory said it's working on changes to its store operations that will help ensure colleague and customer safety. "We expect to be able to facilitate appropriate social distancing in the majority of our stores," it said.

At 1015 BST, the shares were up 3.3% at 39.58p.