Foreign exchange and national living wage hit Card Factory profits

Retailer Card Factory plc has grown sales across its digital channels as part of a groupwide uptick in revenues.

Turnover for the year to January 31 2018 stood at £422.1m, up 6% against the £398.2m recorded in 2017.

Efforts to develop complementary online sources of revenue paid off, with sales at Cardfactory.co.uk rising year on year by 67%.

Conversely, the Wakefield-headquartered retailer saw its pre-tax profit fall 12.3% to £72.6m.

Card Factory opened 50 net new stores during the period, bringing its total UK estate to 915. It also launched six trial stores in the Republic of Ireland.

CEO Karen Hubbard said: “We delivered strong like-for-like sales growth in a tough trading environment.

“We sold more cards than the prior year, and delivered a higher average card selling price and total basket size.”

She continued: “From a profit perspective, we faced strong headwinds of £14.6m in the year, principally due to the combined impact of foreign exchange and national living wage.

“Our cost saving initiatives during the year provided substantial mitigation and we have laid the foundations for further efficiencies to be delivered in the future. However, given the continuing headwinds, and as previously stated, any EBITDA growth in FY19 is likely to be limited.”

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