Card Factory has announced a trading update for the 11 months ending 31 December, 2024, with strong sales.
Total sales for the period were £506.6m, an increase of 6.2% year-on-year, with total store revenue up by 5.7%, including the impact of 32 net new stores.
The retailer also reported ‘encouraging growth in gifts and celebration essentials ranges’ with a 6.1% like-for-like increase in sales, driven by the introduction of new categories and expansion of existing ranges.
Like-for-like store revenue grew 3.9%, while online like-for-like sales for Cardfactory.co.uk grew by 0.5%.
The board expects to deliver FY25 adjusted profit before tax in line with current market expectations. Changing employment costs will result in annual cost inflation of c.£14m in FY26, which the retailer expects to offset through ongoing productivity and efficiency programmes.
Darcy Willson-Rymer, ceo, commented: “We are pleased to have delivered another successful Christmas trading period. Thanks to the hard work of colleagues across the business, growth was driven by further progress against our strategic initiatives and execution of our commercial offer.
“Expanded ranges and our compelling gift and celebration essentials offer increased basket values during the period, whilst we also saw a resilient performance in seasonal cards, with customers responding well to our strong value and quality ranges.”
