Cake Box Holdings PLC (AIM:CBOX) delighted investors on Monday after expressing confidence in meeting full-year expectations.
Trading during the first half has been strong both in-store and online, with total revenues rocketing 91% to £16mln.
The cakes maker has been selling through platforms such as Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo, with franchisee online sales increasing 68% to £6mln during the period, which ended with £4mln in the bank.
It opened 20 new franchise stores, with the estate reaching 174 sites as of 30 September. Three stores were closed during the first half.
There were 62 holding deposits held at period-end as new franchisees want to join the group.
The retailer has also been rolling out kiosks from existing stores, now totalling 19. The ongoing trial of kiosks with a supermarket chain has also expanded, now counting seven of them.
“The company is investing in people, IT, production and distribution to support the growth and we expect that to continue. However, we expect a 17% sales CAGR translates to a 22.5% profit before tax CAGR over the next three years reflecting the benefit of continuous gross margin improvement from the increasing share of sponge and cake supplies sales in the mix,” analysts at Liberum commented.
“While the current yield of 2% is lower than the historic average offered at 3%, we think the dividend could be increased come year-end if momentum continues and the group recovers the higher freight from franchisees.”
Shares were up by a tenth to 368p on Monday morning.