Cake Box Holdings PLC (AIM:CBOX) shares rose by nearly 6% on Monday morning as the specialist retailer of fresh cream cakes reported steady progress in full-year results for the 12 months ended 31 March 2023.
It also announced robust current trading and said it is confident of further progress.
For the full-year, Cake Box saw its group revenue rise by 5.6% to £34.8mln (2022: £33.0mln), while its gross margin increased to 49.4% (2022: 48.0%). The company highlighted a strong balance sheet with £7.4mln cash at period end (2022: £6.6mln) amd is paying a dividend for the full year of 5.5p per share
The company said it is optimistic about the prospects for the year and its sales performance continues to be robust, with franchise sales up 5.4% like-for-like in the last 11 weeks.
In the results statement, Sukh Chamdal, Cake Box chief executive officer, commented: "During the year we have continued to innovate to meet the needs of our customers, worked on improving our operational infrastructure despite facing a unique set of macro-economic pressures and continued to grow sales and margins. We are looking at new ways to reach our customers and the new website offers many new marketing opportunities."
He added: "The market outlook is improving, our capabilities have been expanded, and the Cake Box brand is stronger than ever. We have the right platform in place for the group's development to accelerate over the coming year and beyond."
Around 8.45am, Cake Box shares were up 5.9% at 134.50p.