North American party and costume retailer Party City has revealed that retail sales came in slightly below the predicted growth forecasts for Q4 2018, rising by just 4.3% to $411.35million.
The growth – which also saw total revenues increase by 2.5% – was driven primarily by franchise and independent store acquisitions as well as Halloween City sales, which had increased by approximately 14% year-on-year.
Comparable store sales decreased 2.9% over the final quarter of the year, though e-commerce sales rose by 11.9% during the same period, with click and collect sales up by 32.5%.
“Our topline results for the fourth quarter were slightly below expectations, in large part due to helium supply pressures that persisted from the third quarter,” said ceo James M. Harrison.
“Operationally, 2018 was an important foundational year as we made integral investments across the business to enhance our positioning as a world class retailer and we made meaningful progress against our key growth strategies to strengthen the business for fiscal 2019.”
