Hornby Regulatory News (HRN)

Hornby Plc, the international hobby products Group, provides an update to shareholders on the progress of the Group's new turnaround strategy which was outlined in the 2018 Annual Report and Accounts.

Revenue for the year is lower than last year primarily due to a shortage of stock arriving on time and in full in the first half of the year. We have previously discussed the difficulties caused by technical specifications and purchase orders being sent to the factories late in 2017. For more details, please refer to the Executive chairman's statement of the annual report for the year ended 31 March 2018.

Despite the tailing off of these legacy issues, our underlying margins have improved and the reduction in overheads has continued. The focus on doing more with less through continued cost-cutting and efficiency improvements has resulted in a significantly lower underlying Group loss compared to last year. The loss is in line with the board's expectations despite the reduced product availability and lower sales in the first half of the year.

This is a real achievement under the circumstances and we are grateful to our passionate and hardworking staff who are working tirelessly to get the Group back to profitability.

As previously explained, we are rebuilding trust with our customers and suppliers. This takes time, but the initial signs are encouraging as we move into the first full year where all the new products and marketing strategies have been designed by the new management team.