Sign In
Last checked at 
29 Jul 2016 07:00
29 July 2016
Gear4music (Holdings) plc
Trading Update for the four months ended 30 June 2016
Very encouraging start to the year, positioned for growth
Gear4music (Holdings) plc ("Gear4music" or "the Group"), the largest UK based online retailer of musical instruments and music equipment, today issues a trading update covering 1 March to 30 June 2016 (the 'period') ahead of its Annual General Meeting to be held later today.
£'000 | 4 months to 30 June 2016 | 4 months to 30 June 2015 | % change |
UK sales | 9,081 | 6,319 | 44% |
European sales | 4,701 | 1,986 | 137% |
Total sales | 13,782 | 8,305 | 66% |
Highlights
· 66% increase in total like-for-like sales with strong growth in both the UK and Europe
· European sales contributed 34% of total sales compared to 24% in the same period last year
· Strong European sales growth throughout the period
· First European Distribution centre expected to be operational before Christmas 2016
Gear4music's Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Wass, said:
"We are very encouraged by our trading performance during the first four months of the new financial year. We continue to invest the proceeds from our IPO in June 2015 in our ecommerce system, stock and staff to deliver on our strategy of constantly improving our proposition, which helped drive the 66% sales growth in the period.
"Gross margins and administrative expenses over the period were broadly consistent with management's expectations for the current financial year, which puts the Group in a good position to deliver full year profit expectations.
"The Group is well capitalised and well positioned to take advantage of the short-term export opportunities created by the UK's EU Referendum vote, while our long-term confidence in our European business is reflected by our commitment to establish a physical European footprint before the end of the calendar year."
- Ends -
For further information, please contact
Gear4music +44 843 155 0800
Andrew Wass, Chief Executive Officer
Chris Scott, Chief Financial Officer
Panmure Gordon +44 20 7886 2500
(Financial Adviser, Nominated Adviser and Broker)
Fred Walsh / Peter Steel / Duncan Monteith - Investment Banking
Erik Anderson / Tom Salvesen - Corporate Broking
MHP Communications (Financial PR) +44 20 3128 8100
Andrew Leach
Simon Hockridge
Isabelle Grainger
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.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014.
Follow the stocks
