Card Factory's (LSE:CARD) upbeat financial results had already been well signposted back in the January trading update, and they held no surprises for investors.
It reported a 6.2% increase in revenue to £542.5 million for the year ended 31 January, whilst adjusted profit before tax rose 6.3% to £66 million.
Like-for-like store sales were up 3.4%, supported by category expansion and targeted price increases.
"Our performance in FY25 demonstrates the strength and resilience of Card Factory and our strategy as we continue to evolve the business into a leading global celebrations group," said chief executive Darcy Willson-Rymer.
But, the shares moved southwards in Wednesday’s early deals as a lack of explicit longer-term forecasts raised some eyebrows in the City, as did the omission of an update on the firm’s digital strategy.
“FY26 guidance maintained but medium-term guidance moves away from explicit targets for FY27, and now guides to mid to high single digit % growth for revenue and PBT,” Panmure Liberum analyst Wayne Brown commented.
“Against a backdrop of lower volumes, the company may need to provide comfort on store roll-out and with no details on a digital strategy will probably detract some from looking at the investment case.”
Brown, nevertheless, rates Card Factory as a ‘buy’ with a price target of 150p.
In London, the greetings card retailer saw its share price fall around 3.6% to just over 96p.