Half year pre-tax profits fall for Angling Direct
Angling Direct saw a fall in pre-tax profits in its latest half year despite a rise in sales in its shops.
Revenue was up 1.3 per cent to £38.9 million for the group which has shops in Halesowen and Willenhall.
The specialist fishing tackle and equipment retailer's profit figure for the six months to the end of July was down 69.8 per cent to £1.1m.
Store sales were ahead 9.8 per cent to £21.9m, but online sales fell 7.9 per cent to £17m
Shops were aided by a period free from Covid-19 restrictions.
Although there was an online decline it was against a strong comparative period and UK online sales of £15.3m remained 61 per cent above pre-Covid levels.In Europe, online sales grew by 36.9 per cent.
Two further stores have opened in Coventry in August and Stockton-on-Tees last month.
Sales since July have been impacted by unusually hot temperatures which caused some fishery closures and led to sales in the peak trading month of August being seven per cent down against the same month last year. Total sales returned to modest year-on -year growth in September
Andy Torrance, chief executive of Angling Direct, said: "Throughout the period we continued to make progress against our strategic objectives. Our European Distribution Centre has been fully operational since March 1, we grew European key territory sales by 55 per cent to £1.6m, we continued to improve our in store retail proposition and we opened our first store in north east England, in Washington.
"Sales in August were disrupted by the unusually hot weather in the UK and Europe. Despite trading improving in September, further adverse economic news flow and political uncertainty has resulted in volatile and unprecedented trading conditions which is making short-term forecasting challenging. As a result of these factors and the Board's decision to continue its strategic investment, the Board believes it is prudent to revise downwards its forecasts for 2022-2023 accordingly.
"The Board remains optimistic about the long-term growth prospects of the group and believes that continued strategic investment now will leave the group best placed competitively when consumer confidence returns. The group will only continue to strategically invest in a controlled manner and only to the extent that it retains both strong liquidity and its robust balance sheet."
