Card Factory PLC (LON:CARD) has established a new packing warehouse to meet the increasing online demand in respect of coronavirus safety measures.
The greeting cards seller said online sales rocketed 267% since the beginning of the UK lockdown on 23 March, while it has continued to supply both Aldi and The Reject Shop, its Australian partner.
READ: Card Factory shuts all shops
Following the closure of all of its 991 stores, the retailer has furloughed over 90% of its workforce and has rescheduled seven new openings to next year. It also suspended the dividend for the year to January.
The FTSE 250-listed firm has an existing £200mln revolving credit facility and was granted additional funding by the Bank of England under the Covid Corporate Financing Facility.
"While near-term earnings are clearly hit hard, CARD remains a good quality, vertically integrated, high margin and cash generative business," analysts at Liberum commented.
"We look forward to the new strategy, which the management have been working on for some time, and while we see green shoots of this coming through in today’s update, the full announcement of the future direction of the group could drive the shares significantly higher."
Shares jumped 10% to 42.29p on Wednesday at the opening bell.
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