Card Factory has clinched a £225 million refinancing package with its existing banking syndicate, but has also revealed that it sales in the last five weeks are marginally down on the corresponding period in 2019 (pre-pandemic).
Commenting, Darcy Willson-Rymer, Card Factory’s new ceo said: “I am pleased we have secured increased banking facilities, which afford the group the headroom required to focus on realising the growth strategy. In particular, enhancing our card-led proposition through all sales channels and accelerating the increase in our capability and capacity to fulfil sales demand via our online channel, and so capitalise upon the move to online adopted by more customers over the last year.”
Card Factory’s trading update, released today (May 21) comes only three weeks after the retailer’s more positive announcement that its store sales had exceeded expectations in the period immediately after the reopening of its stores on April 12.
“Initial store sales performance exceeded both our expectations and the sales performance realised after reopening following the first and second lockdowns,” reads the statement. However, having satisfied the initial pent-up demand, Card Factory’s store like-for-like sales for the first five weeks since the reopening were ‘marginally down compared to the same period in 2019.’
In common with what many other card retailers are experiencing in consumer buying habits, the trading update confirmed that up until now, “increased spend per transaction has primarily offset the reduced retail footfall: customers are shopping less frequently but buying more.’
Card Factory’s everyday card and party ranges are said to have “performed strongly”, while there is a “clear early trend of customers shopping more evenly during the week”.
Sales from Card Factory online channels have fallen, “as expected, as customers have also been able to shop in our stores, albeit online sales are still exceeding pre-pandemic levels, with performance in line with management expectations.”
While the previous trading statement saw Card Factory’s share price rise, today’s announcement resulted in an immediate drop of 12.5%.
Top: The extra finance will be used to fund Card Factory’s growth strategy which includes further developing its online presence.
