Card Factory (LSE:CARD) PLC raised its profit guidance following a strong Christmas and remains confident in its value offer and customer demand.
Pre-tax profits are expected to be around £48mln for the full year to 31 January 2023, up from the £37.5mln that the greeting card company forecast in November.
“With delivery of our growth strategy progressing well, it is great to see some of the benefits from this work starting to come through in our financial performance,” said chief executive Darcy Willson-Rymer.
Card Factory (LSE:CARD) said it successfully managed inflationary pressure over the last year and is hedged on currency and energy costs.
Underlying earnings (EBITDA) for the 12 months to end-January is expected to be at least £106mln.
Revenue in the 11 months to 31 December 2022 grew to £432.6mln compared to £337.3mln for the same period a year earlier.
Online sales did however fall by 27.6% year-on-year due to Royal Mail strikes alongside “the shift of customer spend back towards the high street”.
Progress was made on Card Factory’s growth strategy of becoming a “market-leading omnichannel retailer of cards and gifts”, it said, continuing the rollout of its new model store format.
Ten stores now operate with the new model, which has generated an uplift in sales compared to comparator stores, with further conversions planned throughout the year.