REG - Angling Direct PLC - Final Results
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RNS Number : 3420I Angling Direct PLC 13 May 2025
13 May 2025
Angling Direct PLC
('Angling Direct', the 'Company' or the 'Group')
Final Results
Record UK sales underpinned by continued development of the MyAD proposition
and capital deployment to enable delivery of the medium-term objectives(1)
Angling Direct PLC (AIM: ANG), the leading omni-channel specialist fishing
tackle and equipment retailer, is pleased to announce its financial results
for the twelve months ended 31 January 2025 (FY25).
£m FY25 FY24 % Change
Revenue 91.3 81.7 +11.9%
UK retail store sales 50.7 44.4 +14.2%
UK online sales 35.7 32.9 +8.4%
Total UK sales 86.4 77.4 +11.7%
European sales 4.9 4.3 +14.1%
Gross profit 33.1 28.5 +16.0%
Gross margin % 36.2% 34.9% +130bps
Adj. EBITDA(2) 3.4 2.8 +20.0%
UK Adj. EBITDA(2) 4.2 3.8 +11.8%
European Adj. EBITDA(2) (0.8) (1.0) +12.1%
Adj. Profit before tax(2) 2.0 1.6 +23.6%
Basic EPS 1.85p 1.58p +17.1%
Financial highlights:
· Group revenue increased by 11.9% to £91.3m
· Record UK sales of £86.4m, driven by both store and online performance
· UK retail store estate delivered strong revenue growth of 14.2% to £50.7m,
fuelled by accelerated store rollout programme
· Like-for-like store sales(3) increased by 6.0%, with improved customer
footfall
· UK online sales grew 8.4% driven by improved conversion, with growth
strengthening over H2
· In Europe, sales grew 14.1% to £4.9m with continued progress in the key
territories of the Netherlands and Germany
· Gross margin progressed by 130bps to 36.2%, supported by significant own brand
development
· Adjusted EBITDA(2) increased 20.0% to £3.4m, slightly ahead of recently
upgraded consensus market expectations
· Adjusted profit before tax increased 23.6% to £2.0m, representing an increase
in margin of 20 bps to 2.2%
· Strong balance sheet with Group net cash of £12.1m at 31 January 2025 (31
January 2024: £15.8m), investment in organic growth and strategic
opportunities
· Returned £0.6m to shareholders by the year-end following the initiation of a
£4m buyback programme in December 2024. £1.5m has been returned to
shareholders at the date of this announcement, reducing the Company's shares
in issue by approximately 5%
Operational highlights:
· Enhanced MyAD proposition, now established as Europe's largest fishing club
with over 409k members, growing by 86% (31 January 2024: 220k) during the year
· Completed three UK acquisitions of existing retail businesses alongside
opening three new UK retail catchments, scaling the UK store footprint to 53
stores
· Opened the first European store in Utrecht, The Netherlands and deployed MyAD
to trial the omni-channel model
· New own brand logistics capability now operational, enables further
development of the own brand opportunity, reflecting increasing reputation and
demand for own brand offer
· New automated packing machine deployed in the third party distribution centre
Current trading and outlook:
· The Group remains focused on delivering its medium-term financial objectives
with good progress made against these during FY25, underpinned by the MyAD
proposition
· Total Q1 FY26 sales increased 17.1%, achieving growth in the UK and Europe
· Continued execution of the Group's UK store roll out strategy with the opening
of one new UK trading location in Chester in April 2025
· In Europe, management remains focused on the controlled growth of the digital
business and is well placed to accelerate new customer acquisition in The
Netherlands store as it enters its peak trading season
· To mitigate the impact of labour costs, the Group has committed to strategic
investment in on shelf digital labelling technology, enabling further
development in its dynamic retail pricing strategy
· The Board remains mindful of the external headwinds facing the sector but
believes that its experienced management team and agile business model
position it well to navigate any challenges in the period ahead as it fully
capitalises on the significant opportunity available in the UK and Europe
Steve Crowe, CEO of Angling Direct, said:
"Angling Direct delivered a stellar performance in FY25, both against a strong
comparator and ongoing negative pressure on consumer confidence and cost
headwinds. Against this backdrop, we are pleased to report EBITDA for the year
slightly ahead of recently upgraded consensus market expectations."
"The Group increased UK store and online revenues and profits while also
growing revenue and reducing losses in its nascent European operation. The UK
store footprint increased to 53 and I am confident that plenty of opportunity
remains, both greenfield and via acquisition. Coupled with this growth in
stores, the Group's MyAD fishing club has increased its member numbers by 86%
to 409k, demonstrating the benefits of loyalty and repeat purchasing, helping
the Group build more tailored and targeted customer offers."
"Our European business continues to scale and I am optimistic about our Dutch
store ahead of its first full summer season. We have recently deployed MyAD in
The Netherlands to trial the omni-channel model and we will keep EU trading
progress under continual evaluation and, ahead of any potential investment
decision, maintain our rigorous approach. We look forward to updating
shareholders on progress later in the year, after the most profitable part of
the trading season."
"We remain vigilant of the external headwinds facing the sector, including
inflationary pressures, having absorbed significant additional costs in terms
of national living wage inflation and employers national insurance increases.
We are also monitoring carefully the evolving global tariff landscape, albeit
we do not currently expect there to be any significant direct impact on the
Group from these measures."
"Overall I believe that our experienced team and agile business model position
us well to navigate any challenges in the period ahead as we fully capitalise
on the significant opportunity available to us in the UK and Europe.
Delivering on our medium-term targets is at the centre of everything we do. I
am pleased with the progress in our first year since setting out our growth
plans last May and remain confident in achieving our goals."
(1)The Company's medium-term financial objectives were published in the
Company's FY24 Preliminary Results announcement on 14 May 2024 and comprise:
1. UK business generating £100m annual revenues; 2 An Adjusted EBITDA in
excess of £6m; 3. Moving the European business through the early stages of
development to break-even; and 4. Deployment of surplus capital to accelerate
growth beyond our medium-term targets, including selective M&A, with
investment weighted towards the UK business.
( )
(2) Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Profit before tax figures are presented on a
pre IFRS 16 and pre IFRS 2 basis unless otherwise stated
3 Excluding the Reading store which hasn't materially traded in the
comparative period after it suffered a fire in the first week of February
2023.
4 Angling Direct believes that, prior to publication of this announcement,
consensus market expectations for the year ended 31 January 2025 are for
revenues of £91.3 million and Adjusted EBITDA of £3.2 million. Consensus
market expectations for the year ending 31 January 2026 are for revenues of
£97.8 million and Adjusted EBITDA of £3.75 million.
Investor Meet Company presentation - 19 May 2025
Steve Crowe (CEO) and Sam Copeman (CFO) will provide a live presentation via
the Investor Meet Company platform at 11.00 a.m. BST on 19 May. The
presentation is open to all existing and potential shareholders. Questions can
be submitted pre-event via the Investor Meet Company platform up until 9.00
a.m. the day before the meeting or at any time during the live presentation.
Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add to meet
Angling Direct plc via:
https://www.investormeetcompany.com/angling-direct-plc/register-investor
(https://www.investormeetcompany.com/angling-direct-plc/register-investor) .
Investors who already follow Angling Direct plc on the Investor Meet Company
platform will automatically be invited.
For further information please contact:
Angling Direct PLC +44 (0) 1603 258 658
Steven Crowe, Chief Executive Officer
Sam Copeman, Chief Financial Officer
Singer Capital Markets - NOMAD and Broker +44 (0) 20 7496 3000
Peter Steel
Tom Salvesen
Alex Bond
James Todd
FTI Consulting - Financial PR +44 (0) 20 3727 1000
Alex Beagley anglingdirect@fticonsulting.com (mailto:anglingdirect@fticonsulting.com)
Matthew Young
Hannah Butler
About Angling Direct
Angling Direct is the leading omni-channel specialist fishing tackle retailer
in the UK, with an established and growing presence in Europe. Headquartered
in Norfolk UK, the Company sells fishing tackle products and related equipment
through its network of in excess of 50 UK retail stores, as well as through
its leading digital platform (www.anglingdirect.co.uk
(https://eu-west-1.protection.sophos.com?d=anglingdirect.co.uk&u=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbmdsaW5nZGlyZWN0LmNvLnVrLw==&i=NWZmMzFiMDlmNTYxZTYwZGYyODQyMzUz&t=K2FWYTRxeDV6cWRxd2I5dVpOODk5dnFObVU2U2p5WElLNndSM01SaStUcz0=&h=704002e0ebe140b99f9f3842770cb87e&s=AVNPUEhUT0NFTkNSWVBUSVapg934Yb5nAolTQ9o0CeldsCYWuT9YetF_pLFbutVHOzk4kq9BEj_vGoYOcSbmh2Q)
) and the MyAD Fishing Club app. The Company has three further native language
websites in its key European territories (www.anglingdirect.de,
(https://eu-west-1.protection.sophos.com?d=anglingdirect.de&u=d3d3LmFuZ2xpbmdkaXJlY3QuZGU=&i=NWZmMzFiMDlmNTYxZTYwZGYyODQyMzUz&t=VVRndGRoM1kvaFpNWnRpMzZ0M3NsT2I1NFdGTEp6ZllkYnFBaFFZb2FNWT0=&h=704002e0ebe140b99f9f3842770cb87e&s=AVNPUEhUT0NFTkNSWVBUSVapg934Yb5nAolTQ9o0CeldsCYWuT9YetF_pLFbutVHOzk4kq9BEj_vGoYOcSbmh2Q)
.fr, .nl), with orders fulfilled by its international distribution centre in
The Netherlands.
Angling Direct's purpose is to inspire everyone to get out and enjoy an
exceptional fishing experience, regardless of background or ability, in the
great outdoors. Angling Direct's active digital channels and c500 colleagues
contribute to the Company's ethos of care for the wider community and the
environment (www.anglingdirect.co.uk/sustainability
(https://eu-west-1.protection.sophos.com?d=anglingdirect.co.uk&u=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbmdsaW5nZGlyZWN0LmNvLnVrL3N1c3RhaW5hYmlsaXR5&i=NWZmMzFiMDlmNTYxZTYwZGYyODQyMzUz&t=a25La0pYblhuR0diWS9OWVhUTEJtSjRiNmhCdktRWnNiUG9ibXlUMjNuTT0=&h=704002e0ebe140b99f9f3842770cb87e&s=AVNPUEhUT0NFTkNSWVBUSVapg934Yb5nAolTQ9o0CeldsCYWuT9YetF_pLFbutVHOzk4kq9BEj_vGoYOcSbmh2Q)
). Angling Direct currently sells over 25,000 fishing tackle products from
industry leading brands alongside its own brands 'Advanta', and entry level
offering 'Discover'.
Chairman's Statement
Introduction
As Chair I am delighted to update you on another record year for Angling
Direct, as our excellent team of angling enthusiasts again helped to deliver
revenue and profit growth while making significant progress developing our
proposition for anglers of all ages and abilities. By continually seeking
deeper insights into anglers needs and fishing habits, we continue to win new
customers who are attracted by our market leading, contemporary omni-channel
consumer proposition. Couple this with an increasingly sophisticated approach
to adopting new digital technologies, product ranging and supply chain
management, Angling Direct has delivered another year of record sales and
profitability. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank the whole Angling
Direct team for their ongoing commitment and hard work.
For a variety of reasons, continuing economic uncertainty seems to have become
something of a norm that businesses are having to navigate. Our strong purpose
of 'Getting Everyone Fishing' remains the key focus as it is increasingly
clear that for consumer businesses to thrive, they must not only drive growth
but consistently underpin this with rigorous attention to sustainable business
development and efficiency. In both regards, our dedicated teams have executed
well in the period.
The fishing tackle markets in both the UK and Europe continue to consolidate.
Thanks to the Company's strong balance sheet, Angling Direct remains well
placed to gain further share by appropriately and prudently investing where
opportunities exist. We progressed our UK store roll-out with the opening of
six new stores in the year, three of which were through the acquisition of
existing fishing tackle retailers.
The strength of our balance sheet continues to underpin the sustainability of
our business, with our unrelenting focus on driving profitable growth while
maintaining strong cash generation. This has provided the Company with a solid
platform from which to invest to further grow earnings alongside increasing
the addressable market of the Group, as we look to expand in Europe. We
actively invest in working capital, new stores, colleagues and technologies to
grow our business for the benefit of all stakeholders. During the year the
Group published its Capital Allocation Policy and the Board is fully focused
on both deploying and returning capital to shareholders in accordance with
this, while the management team continues to deliver on the medium-term
strategic objectives announced in May 2024.
In Europe we maintained our focus on improving trading margins and operational
efficiencies, while also achieving good growth and market share gains in the
key territories of this large and attractive market. Having opened our first
European retail store in Utrecht, the Netherlands, we are testing customer
acceptance of the full breadth of Angling Direct's successful omni-channel
model. We know from our UK experience that our physical stores and amazing
colleagues act as great ambassadors for our brand, and we expect this maiden
European store to complement our digital business within this highly
attractive market, which significantly expands our addressable market over the
medium term.
Digitally, our loyalty membership club, MyAD, continues to go from strength to
strength with membership numbers in the period growing 86% to over 409k. This
is a prime contemporary example of how Angling Direct is strengthening its
competitive advantage by continually focusing on improving the experience of
our customers in ways that are tangibly valuable to them. We continue to
increasingly deploy and leverage retail AI technology into several areas of
our offering including paid advertising, product recommendations and customer
services.
Financial overview
The Group achieved a record revenue of £91.3m in the year to 31 January 2025,
a 11.9% increase on the previous period (FY24: £81.7m).
UK store sales increased by 14.2% to £50.7m (FY24: £44.4m) and UK online
sales increased by 8.4% to £35.7m (FY24: £32.9m). Significantly, total UK
sales are now c72% above pre-Covid levels, illustrating the scale of market
share gain advancements in recent years.
As a result of our continuing focus on realising operational efficiencies, and
despite a number of headwinds facing the broader market, the Group delivered
Adjusted EBITDA of £3.4m (FY24: £2.8m) and a pre-tax profit of £2.0m (FY24:
£1.5m). The Group ended the year with a strong balance sheet and net cash of
£12.1m as at 31 January 2025 (31 January 2024: £15.7m) as we invest cash to
underpin the delivery of the medium-term objectives.
People & community
We're proud that Angling Direct is by some way the largest UK employer in our
market. Our continued focus on 'Getting Everyone Fishing' is important to
everyone at Angling Direct as we want to ensure that the Group has a positive
impact not just as an employer, but also on the sustainable health of angling
as a sport, with all the associated benefits for our employees, suppliers,
shareholders, local communities, and the environment.
Our success is in no small part due to the dedication and enthusiasm of our
superb colleagues who share our vision and are passionate in delivering the
very best experience to our angling community. Our colleagues are key to all
we do, and we endeavour to support them with our ambition to be the best
employer in our sector, not only in terms of reward but also in caring for
wellbeing and fulfilment.
In our communities, we're proud to continue strongly supporting the Angling
Trust in a joint effort to increase participation, especially targeted at
younger people. We endorse the wide-ranging evidence that fishing can be a
great way to improve all round wellbeing and have been particularly focused on
supporting Tackling Minds, a rapidly growing Community Interest Company
focused on using fishing to help improve mental health.
It is also good to see the growing public recognition that, as a society, we
need to lobby and work harder to improve and maintain the health of our rivers
and lakes. Angling Direct as market leader, and the wider angling community,
has a clear role to play in this.
Board changes
Since the period end we have been delighted to welcome Neil Williams to the
Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director. Neil brings extensive public
markets and retail experience from his time at French Connection and his
insights will be invaluable as we continue to execute our strategy.
Yours sincerely,
___________________________
Andy Torrance
Non-Executive Chairman
12 May 2025
Chief Executive's Review
'Focused on our clear purpose to inspire everyone to get out and enjoy an
exceptional fishing experience, we continue to build Europe's most engaging
fishing club through MyAD and our unrivalled UK omni-channel model. Despite
consumer headwinds, we have engaged more customers, leveraged innovation and
built further scale and resilience into our business.'
Delivering against our strategy - Building Europe's Biggest Fishing Club
We have a long-term strategy to become the leading fishing tackle destination
in Europe by inspiring and delighting increasing numbers of customers,
focusing on sustainable profitable growth and engaging with our customers and
local angling communities. Our strategy remains to create Europe's largest
fishing club underpinned by our medium-term objectives first set out in May
2024 and repeated below:
1. UK business on a flightpath to revenue of £100m
2. UK business on a flightpath to >£6m Adj EBITDA
3. Development of a sustainable European business
4. Creating Europe's largest fishing club, MyAD, and leveraging its value
5. Deployment of surplus liquidity to further grow the business beyond the
medium-term objectives
6. Angling retail's largest responsible employer
The Board is confident that delivering against our strategy and medium-term
objectives will further differentiate us from our competitors and unlock the
significant growth opportunity we see ahead, generating long-term sustainable
value for all stakeholders.
The MyAD proposition continues to bring together our complete offering under
one banner, bridging the gap between our physical stores and our digital
offering. This unified positioning continues to help us deepen our
understanding of our customer while significantly enhancing our customer
proposition and marketing efficiency.
As the UK market leader with a purpose of 'Getting Everyone Fishing', Angling
Direct is uniquely placed to deliver further profitable growth both within the
UK and the significant European fishing tackle markets as people of all
backgrounds discover the restorative pleasure, challenge and wellbeing
benefits of angling.
UK business on a flightpath to revenue of £100m
The UK business delivered revenue of £86.4m, growing 11.7% against FY24
(£77.4m). The growth was delivered both online and in store, with both
channels seeing increases in customer numbers as our omni-channel model,
underpinned by MyAD and our price promise, continued to increase its reach and
gain traction in a consolidating market. Our UK like for like sales(1)
increased 7.1% as we continue to adapt our proposition to better engage with a
customer base who shop with us both physically and digitally, alongside
becoming the natural consolidator of choice in the market.
UK Retail Stores
Total store sales in the period increased 14.2% to £50.7m (FY24: £44.4m).
Like-for-like store sales grew by 6.0% (excluding Reading, which didn't
materially trade in the prior year period due to a fire in February 2023). In
line with our medium-term objective of delivering a UK retail store portfolio
with annual sales in excess of £60m, we continued to invest in new UK retail
stores. This investment, for the first time since 2019, included the
acquisitions of three businesses in Crewe, Walsall and Shrewsbury, allowing us
to enter attractive catchments and scale earnings faster than our traditional
"greenfield" approach. These opportunities have arisen as the pace of
consolidation in the market increases against the backdrop of single site
operators' costs increasing ahead of sales, and the need for investment in
technology and working capital to mitigate these challenges.
During the year we also established three new locations for the UK business,
opening stores in Cannock, Newark and Derby.
During the period, we saw an increase in footfall and customer numbers across
both our established and new spaces. This has been driven by the success of
our MyAD loyalty and repeat purchase membership club, alongside the increased
use of merchandising technology, growing demand for our in-store services and
our valued assisted selling model.
Having accelerated our new store roll out plans in FY25 three times faster
than the previous year, our UK ambition remains clear and we continue to seek
out new catchments which present the opportunity to deliver scalable revenues
and accretive returns. We continue to actively identify growth areas including
traditional scale opportunities (greenfield and acquisition) which are now
complemented by smaller catchment areas (Crewe and Walsall) where we can
deploy a footprint of smaller stores with a margin intense range model.
Outside of new space, we continue to evaluate our store refresh and roll back
concepts across the existing estate to drive further like for like sales
growth. During H2 FY25 we also built the technology to offer customers in
store access to our full range, delivered next day to home or the store of
their choice "shop the range". Two store refreshes were completed in the
second half of FY25 including our flagship Waltham Cross store, alongside ten
"shop the range" trials which commenced in the period.
UK Online
UK online sales grew by 8.4% to £35.7m (FY24: £32.9m) as our MyAD and
everyday low-price propositions, alongside our focus on availability during
peak season, resulted in the UK online business continuing to take greater
share of the higher ticket item market.
As part of our drive to grow market share and customer loyalty, we continue to
invest in contemporary digital infrastructure and customer marketing, further
increasing our competitive moat. These investments delivered increased
customer numbers, of 13.3% alongside improved conversion (+c150 bps) despite
the more challenging consumer landscape for higher ticket items.
Utilising a data led approach to our digital marketing continues to prove a
clear differentiator and a source of competitive advantage with ongoing
development of this in Q4 to further optimise search values through
conversion. Our YouTube channel surpassed seven million views, 60% higher than
FY24. Alongside this, our social media reach, in particular TikTok and
Instagram, continues to scale with our total social followers increasing 34%
to c507k since 31 January 2024. These initiatives are key to opening up our
offering to new target customer audiences and providing opportunities for
further growth in the longer-term.
Leveraging store footfall to offer customers our broader digital range is a
clear opportunity with our MyAD omni-channel customers spending a higher
proportion of their angling wallet with us. The "shop the range" proposition
and technology is currently being trialled in ten stores with the full launch
across the estate scheduled in H1 FY26.
We remain committed to utilising innovative digital technologies to provide
our customers with market leading advice, engagement, service and inspiration.
Our in-house web development team has continued to progressively deploy our
digital customer journey functionality, through updating our trading app
alongside enhancing the check-out journey.
UK business on a flightpath to >£6m EBITDA
UK Trading
The UK business increased Adj. EBITDA by 11.8% to £4.2m (FY24: £3.8m),
keeping pace with revenue growth and demonstrating the resilience of the
business. In the period, the UK business was able to enhance gross margins,
absorb cost headwinds and balance cost investment against revenue growth,
delivering earnings aligned with our medium-term ambition of achieving
Adjusted EBITDA of >£6m.
A key component of delivering our UK profitability target is increasing our
gross margin. To achieve this, we will continue to leverage our category
authority and expertise to lead choice, innovation and value, making it easier
for anglers to access the best products and services. The ongoing development
of our own brand offer through the Advanta and entry level Discover brands,
provides a key area of competitive advantage and supply chain resilience.
Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on cash generation through these
brands, positioning them where supply chain partners' alternative products
have margins which undervalue the product or there is inconsistency of supply.
During the period our increasingly sophisticated and agile ranging, buying and
pricing practices have increased the Group's gross margin +130 bps, with
overall UK margin +140 bps to 36.7%. Higher margin own brand gross profit grew
by c49% (third party brands c13%), playing an increasingly pivotal role in the
overall UK gross margin profile. Stock availability within own brand ranges
remains at good levels and provides a strong platform to develop this further
in FY26.
Alongside our growing scale, we have continued to deepen our relationships
with key suppliers, increasingly allowing us to secure stock at favourable
trade terms while giving supplier partners surety of volume and cashflow. In
conjunction with this, we have continued the sale of physical and digital
space to join up with our MyAD strategy and these revenues increased 43% in
the period.
During H1, the team successfully secured new distribution capacity in
Wednesbury (West Midlands) to serve as the Group's own brand storage and
logistics operation alongside our existing facility in Rackheath (Norwich).
With the increasing reputation and demand for our own brand offer, the need
for increased space and more frequent store replenishment capability is
critical. The team has worked hard to deliver this successfully, with the
facility opening in H2 FY25 ahead of the peak own brand intake post Chinese
New year.
Our technology deployment remains focused on operational efficiency
improvements to reduce the exposure of the business to further cost pressures
and in particular above inflationary living wage increases in FY26 and beyond.
Our UK stores and distribution centres continue to explore and test improved
ways of operating. Despite strong wage and energy headwinds, both operations
delivered carriage and colleague ratios to sales below FY24. In H2 FY25 we
implemented our automated packaging machine into our UK customer distribution
centre in Rackheath. The machine was fully operational ahead of the FY26
financial year, and whilst representing a substantial investment of c£1m for
the UK business, the benefits in mitigating inflationary wage pressures will
be realised in FY26 and beyond.
We continue to operate a lean Group central cost base and will leverage this
further as we remain focused on UK revenue growth. Our ambition remains to
operate these costs below 7% of UK revenue and during the year we achieved
this objective with the ratio remaining 6.7%.
UK Retail Stores
In order to mitigate inflationary pressure, including the c9.6% increase in
the living wage in April 2024, we have continued to deploy customer-targeted
colleague working rotas alongside updates to store opening hours. These
measures have proven successful and we continue to investigate further
deployment model changes with a view to mitigating future living wage
increases. These include trailing three digital shelf edge labelling solutions
and using handheld digital technologies to support store colleagues with
in-store tasks.
We have continued to roll out in store services as a means of further
differentiating ourselves from our competitors and providing customers with
more valued offerings. This has included the commencement of a trial for reel
servicing to complement our existing offer of reel spooling and pole
elastication. We anticipate full roll out of reel servicing across the UK
estate by H1 FY26.
In H2 FY24, aligned with the broader UK retail sector at the time, the
business observed increasing levels of product theft from its stores. In
response, we have deployed further operational measures which have abated some
of the impact on earnings with the year-on-year UK retail stores gross margin
improving by +20 bps in FY25 as a result and providing a platform for FY26.
UK Online
The online business balanced revenue progression and an increasingly volatile
paid advertising landscape against further cost investment in some retail AI
and pricing technologies as a mitigatory measure. Alongside this, we have
implemented new AI technologies into the customer service journey and onsite
search and recommend optimisation. We have made strong progress in ensuring
earnings delivery has kept pace with revenue progression while simultaneously
selectively investing to deliver further progress in H2 and beyond.
Development of a sustainable European business
The opportunity for medium term market share growth in Europe remains clear
with the cumulative addressable markets in Germany, the Netherlands and France
over three times the size of the UK's. During the period the European digital
trading landscape remained challenging with significant pressure on both
customer price and paid advertising costs. We continued to concentrate on
optimising trading in our key target territories of Germany and the
Netherlands. This approach provides a clear focus on controlled expansion in
order to protect margins and reduce the trading losses of the digital business
ahead of any further material capital deployment in Europe.
In the period, the Group made strong progress against a number of like for
like European Digital KPIs including:
· Operating margins +230 bps to -3.3%; and
· Adj. EBITDA losses reduced 26.0% to £0.7m with an associated 690 bps
improvement in the EBITDA margin.
In May 2024 we opened our first European store in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Our unique customer numbers continue to scale alongside improved frequency and
ensuring our marketing focus amplifies our product and price credentials,
underpinned by MyAD.
During H2 FY25 we signed a contract with a third-party logistics operator to
service our European customer fulfilment, enabling our European business to
access labour and carriage rates which allow us to benefit from access to the
new third party operator's greater economies of scale. This agreement will
also enable our European business to reduce property costs and provides
greater flexibility on property space requirements in FY26 and beyond.
The European consumer landscape is currently more uncertain than the UK and
intense pricing competition has continued. Whilst the competitive market is
creating opportunity for the Group, we will keep EU trading progress under
continual evaluation and, ahead of any potential significant cash investment,
maintain our rigorous review of the likely returns in this area of the
business. In summary, we believe that the current market trends are
unsustainable and will create opportunity for the Group much as it has done in
the UK. We remain confident in the significant longer term growth opportunity
and will maintain a disciplined approach to further expansion.
Creating Europe's largest fishing club, MyAD and leveraging its value
MyAD has attracted over 409k members by 31 January 2025, growing by 86% (220k
at 31 January 2024). The proposition provides access to everyday deals, 'money
can't buy' prizes, special MyAD bundles and monthly free prize giveaways,
which continue to resonate well and attract new customers. Alongside this, we
launched the MyAD Choice awards in H1 FY25 which allows customers to vote for
products across a number of categories. We then share the results with
suppliers to leverage the exposure of these products which has proven to be
engaging for customers and value accretive for suppliers.
We are increasingly confident that our deepening and unique data-driven
insights into anglers' needs and preferences will drive improved performance
in revenues and operations through growing levels of loyalty, repeat
purchasing and better ability to engage with our customer base. To underpin
this, we continue to work on the delivery of personalised offers to customers
based on data and behaviours and have after the period end contracted with an
established customer data and experience platform provider to deliver the
infrastructure to leverage this opportunity. Around 75% of our UK revenues are
now transacted through MyAD. This provides clear data points around the value
of our omni-channel customers and is increasing our understanding of how a
store or digital only customer transitioning into an-omni channel customer
enables us to capture a greater share of their angling wallet.
Deployment of surplus liquidity to further grow the business beyond the
medium-term objectives
We have a strong balance sheet which allows us to remain focused on deploying
surplus capital into accelerating the growth of the UK business. There is
significant opportunity to scale the UK store roll out programme and we
continue to develop existing "greenfield" sites, our store acquisition
pipeline and test our 'store in store' opportunity with potential partners to
ensure that we are best positioned to fully capitalise on the opportunities
available to us in the market. During the period we invested £2.7m in our six
new UK locations.
Outside of store growth, during the period we committed further capital to
secure the Group's new own brand distribution facility, as well as further
investment in the UK automated packaging project for the UK online business
which is now live and supporting our increased UK digital volumes.
There is a distinct opportunity for the Group to further scale investment in
owned brands and we will continue to actively develop this pipeline both
organically and inorganically.
During the year the Group published its Capital Allocation Policy and is fully
focused on both deploying and returning capital to shareholders in accordance
with this, maintaining our overarching objective to maximise shareholder
returns. In accordance with the Capital Allocation Policy the Company
commenced a £4m share buyback programme in December 2024. At the balance
sheet date, £0.6m had been deployed under the buyback, increasing to £1.5m
at the reporting date with the Board and its advisors continuing to closely
scrutinise the effectiveness of this current strategy.
Angling retail's largest responsible employer
We remain fully committed to acting responsibly and sustainably within the
environment and communities in which we operate. We continue to be the
employer of choice for an increasing number of anglers with our colleague
count increasing to over 500 for the first time during the year.
We are committed to developing our approach to sustainability and have focused
on reducing our waste sent to landfill, with less than 0.5% going to landfill
during the year. We continue to support the Anglers National Line recycling
scheme through our recycling bins for fisheries from suppliers alongside our
recycling points in our new retail stores. During the year we also increased
the volume of line we helped to recycle by over 35% to 1.9m meters.
Protecting the environment is core to everything we do and we remain focused
on leveraging our size and scale to reduce our environmental impact. We are
proud to support and sponsor the Angling Trust's "Anglers Against Pollution"
campaign by providing essential funding and logistical support to expand the
Water Quality Monitoring Network (WQMN), a vital initiative that empowers
anglers to test and report on water pollution across England and Wales.
We continue to support the important work of Tackling Minds, a Community
Interest Company focused on positively supporting those with mental health
issues and rehabilitation through access to angling and blue spaces. Our
support comes through the sale of their merchandise in some of our key trading
locations with all proceeds returned to Tackling Minds alongside associated
donations. To date, our support has returned £34k to Tackling Minds.
It is more important than ever to ensure we rigorously scrutinise any
incremental organisational risk and investment, whilst ensuring we
appropriately plan and resource for future market share growth in our
consolidating markets. During the year we deployed the new major release of
our ERP platform alongside improving our flexibility and resilience by moving
our key technology to being cloud hosted. Outside of this, our appetite for
increasingly contemporary technology and deployment within the business has
increased and the Board continues to review the opportunities and associated
risks this presents.
We are the exclusive retail sponsors of the Angling Trust's 'Get Fishing'
campaign, which is designed to attract new and lapsed anglers through a
bankside coaching collaboration with Sport England and the Environment Agency.
We are delighted that the programme reached over 22,645 individuals through
1,112 events in the year ended 31 January 2025. The campaign's digital
communications had a reach of over 7m, all sign-posting the collaboration with
Angling Direct. We continue to work closely with the Angling Trust to improve
this reach and attract and retain anglers through tailored marketing journeys
and product offers. Our ambition remains to support the health of the pastime
and industry through collaboration.
Coarse fishing licence sales remain broadly flat against those of the pre
COVID landscape, but with over 20% increases in young people and disabled
licence sales, it is pleasing to see growing engagement from people new to the
pastime.
We continue to focus on developing a culture where "everybody can contribute",
aligned with our objective to become the leading employer within our market.
We have increased the focus on our annual leadership survey, driving clear
action plans from leaders, with the primary focus being on driving "one team"
with the opportunity to all win together. In addition, we continue to offer
"benefits statements" for all store colleagues so we mutually reflect on the
total value of the colleague offer and continue to offer additional well-being
days for all colleagues over and above historical annual leave entitlements.
We take our ESG responsibilities seriously and that extends to ensuring
Angling Direct is continually working towards enhancing sustainable business
practices across the areas of environmental protection, economic viability,
and social diversity.
Current trading, this year's road map and beyond
We have a clear ambition to scale the UK business to our medium-term £100m
revenue target and our MyAD fishing club will be pivotal to achievement of
this objective. MyAD provides the platform for us to continue to take market
share through leveraging our physical and digital infrastructure, in turn
enabling us to serve new and existing customers. Alongside this, we will
maintain the pace of our UK physical estate roll out by taking advantage of
continuing market consolidation and acquiring existing retailers or reaching
new unserved catchments where we believe we can make accretive returns. The UK
digital business will continue with its development, accessing and developing
new retail AI technologies to maintain its competitive advantage.
In Europe we will continue with controlled growth of our digital business,
balancing the current softer market conditions with our ambition in a highly
attractive addressable market. Alongside this, we will look to acquire new
customers at pace in The Netherlands store as it enters its first full fishing
season.
Against these ambitions, in Q1, the Group grew overall revenue 17.1%, with the
UK growing 17.4% and Europe 10.6%. During Q1 we also opened one new UK trading
location in Chester in April.
We continue to focus on gross margin development, and at the same time, our
tight operational control and focus on efficiency means that we are continuing
to mitigate ongoing cost headwinds.
With significant cash on the balance sheet, the Group will continue to
strategically invest in UK market share gains, scaling the Angling Direct own
brand opportunity whilst also further benefiting from operational leverage. In
Q1 FY26, the UK business committed to a significant capital investment in
shelf edge digital labelling technology. This will both serve to reduce
exposure to increasing labour costs and enable the Group to further develop
its dynamic retail pricing strategy.
We remain vigilant to the external headwinds facing the sector, including
inflationary pressures, but believe that our experienced management team and
agile business model position us well to navigate any challenges in the period
ahead as we fully capitalise on the significant opportunity available to us in
the UK and Europe.
With the continued support of our outstanding colleagues, I look forward to
sharing further success with shareholders through 2025 and beyond.
___________________________
Steve Crowe
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer
12 May 2025
(1) The UK business like-for-like performance includes the total of the UK
digital business and the like-for-like UK stores excluding Reading
Chief Financial Officer's statement
Growing revenues, building profitability and investing cash to deliver the
medium-term objectives
The Group continued to make meaningful progress towards its medium-term
objectives with significant investments in the year through the accelerated
store roll out, delivery of the Group's own brand ambitions and implementation
of automation technology in UK web fulfilment. Despite the competitive pricing
environment presenting challenges across both the UK and Europe and the
inflationary pressures within the cost base, the Group delivered significant
progress in its financial performance:
· Revenues increased by 11.9% to £91.3m (FY24: £81.7m);
· Grew Adjusted EBITDA by 20.0% to £3.4m (FY24: £2.8m);
· Increased Adjusted profit before tax by 23.6% to £2.0m (£1.6m); and
· Basic EPS up by 17.1% to 1.85p per share (FY24: 1.58p).
To deliver these results and the progress towards its medium-term objectives,
the Group used its strong balance sheet with a net cash outflow of £3.7m, in
line with its capital allocation policy. This included a £6.9m investment in
working capital and capital expenditure in FY25, as the Group continues to
progress towards its medium-term objectives through the delivery of its
consolidation strategy in the UK, whilst also continuing to build a
sustainable European business and the trialling of the omni-channel model.
Outside of the £6.9m investment, the net cash outflow of £3.7m also reflects
the Group's strong underlying trading cash generation excluding new space, and
the initiation of a £4m buyback programme in December 2024, of which £0.6m
had been returned to shareholders at 31 January 2025.
Within this section, the financial performance of the business is also
analysed on an Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted profit before tax and Adjusted
cashflow basis. These 'Adjusted' measures are presented on a pre IFRS 16
(leases) and pre IFRS 2 (share based payments) basis and stock purchased via
acquisitions is reported through working capital and not investing activities.
This represents an alternative performance measure that management uses for
assessing the financial performance and position of the Group, and is
consistent with the covering analyst's market forecasts.
Growing revenues
Group revenue grew 11.9% to £91.3m (FY24: £81.7m), with the UK business
growing at 11.7% to £86.4m (FY24: £77.4m) and the European business growing
at 14.1% to £4.9m (FY24: 4.3m), despite the competitive pricing environment,
across both the UK and Europe.
The UK business performed strongly both in terms of the FY25 performance and
towards its medium-term objective of £100m revenue:
· UK stores delivered revenue growth of 14.2% to £50.7m driven by:
o Strong like-for-like growth of 6.0% underpinned by improved footfall, with the
growth strengthening over H2 (H1 +1.8% vs H2 +11.3%) and accelerating versus
the FY23 like-for-like growth of 3.1%.
o Acceleration of store rollout programme (new sites in Cannock, Newark and
Derby and acquisitions in Crewe, Walsall and Shrewsbury) with UK store
footprint increasing to 53 from 47, contributing revenue of £4.0m alongside
the FY24 new space (greenfield sites in Cardiff and Goole).
· UK online delivered revenue growth of 8.4% to £35.7m underpinned by improved
conversion, with growth strengthening over H2 (H1 2.8% vs H2 14.1%).
As the Group further leverages MyAD and rolls out initiatives such as 'shop
the range' (please refer to the CEO Statement), the UK online and physical
store businesses will become increasingly joined up in the way they operate,
with the overall UK like-for-like growth forming a key measure in the future
against which to measure the Group's progress as an omni-channel retailer. The
UK like-for-like business delivered revenue growth of 7.1% to £81.6m.
The European business primarily remains an online offer at this stage in its
development, with online revenue growth of 7.1% to £4.6m in the year with
increased conversion and average transaction value underpinning the growth.
The business is focussed on earnings accretive revenue growth in the key
territories of the Netherlands and Germany, which significantly increases our
overall addressable market. Alongside this, the first European store opened in
May 2024, and the focus continues to be both marketing initiatives and scaling
footfall ahead of the summer 2025 peak trading period.
Building profitability
Group Adjusted EBITDA grew 20.0% to £3.4m (FY24: £2.8m), with the UK
business growing at 11.8% to £4.2m (FY24: £3.8m) and the L4L European
business(1) losses narrowing by 26.0% to £0.7m (FY24: £1.0m loss).
The UK business delivered Adjusted EBITDA growth of 11.8% versus revenue
growth of 11.7%, with this broadly flat indexing featuring across all of the
UK channels (UK stores, UK online and UK group overheads). This was achieved
through strong underlying FY25 performance despite a period of (i) significant
inflationary pressures on the cost base (e.g. national living wage, premises
costs) and; (ii) investment in the business (e.g. acceleration of the store
rollout programme, new own brand logistics capacity and capability, automated
packaging machine efficiencies) that will enable the Group to scale future
growth and deliver accretive Adjusted EBITDA in future periods to enable
further progress towards the £6m Adjusted EBITDA medium-term objective.
The inflationary pressures on the cost base were more than offset by the
delivery of cost base efficiencies (e.g. revised opening hours, dynamic
colleague rotas, distribution centre labour efficiencies) and significant
gross margin progression of 140 bps to 36.7% (FY24 up 10 bps to 35.3%). The
latter was driven by significant own brand progression, improved supplier
terms and buying, lower levels of promotional activity, growth in service
based revenue and lower levels of retail theft.
Despite the full mitigation of the inflationary cost pressures, the UK
Adjusted EBITDA margin was 4.9%, in line with the prior year (FY24: 4.9%) and
reflecting the impact of the FY25 investment. These investments, alongside
additional plans around further gross margin development and cost base
efficiency initiatives, are pivotal to deliver the £6m Adjusted EBITDA
objective for the UK business, despite the continued inflationary cost
pressures (e.g. employers NI changes) and competitive pricing environment.
The European business continued to reduce its losses, making progress towards
the medium-term objective of becoming a self-sustaining division. The L4L
European business(2) narrowed its losses by 26.0% to £0.7m, representing
21.2% of the Group's Adjusted EBITDA, a significant improvement year-on-year
(FY24: 34.4%). This was delivered through:
· Positive progress in its operating margin (profit pre-fixed costs) with a 230
bps improvement to -3.3%; and
· Continued management of both the fixed and variable cost base, also benefiting
from the transition to a third party logistics model in Q4, providing
operating efficiency and economies of scale, alongside greater flexibility in
terms of property space for FY26 and beyond
As set out above, the first European store continues to gain momentum ahead of
summer 2025, its first full peak trading period, and including the store
results, the overall European losses reduced by 12.1% to £0.8m, representing
25.2% of the Group's Adjusted EBITDA, a 920 bps improvement.
At a Group level, Adjusted profit before tax increased 23.6% to £2.0m (FY24:
£1.6m), representing an increase in margin of 20 bps to 2.2%. The key
components were a c11% increase in depreciation and amortisation (up £0.2m
reflecting the increased capital expenditure - see below) partially offset by
a c12% increase in interest income. Reported profit before tax increased 29.1%
to £2.0m, with the margin increasing 20 bps to 2.1%.
The Group's effective tax rate was 27% (FY24: 19.7%). All of the Group's
revenues and the majority of its expenses are all subject to corporation tax.
The main expenses that are not deductible for tax purposes are professional
fees and keyman insurance. Tax relief for some expenditure, mainly unapproved
share options is received over a longer period than that for which the costs
are charged to the financial statements. Headline corporation tax rates in the
UK (25%) and the Netherlands (25.8%) are comparable and therefore no material
difference arises from the differential in headline corporation tax rates.
Consequently, the Group's reported profit after tax was £1.4m, an 17.2%
increase (£0.2m).
The Group's basic earnings per share increased by 17.1% / 0.27p, to 1.85p per
share. This growth was delivered through the greater level of profitability,
and supported through the £4m buyback program initiated in December 2024. The
lower diluted earnings per share of 1.84p (FY23: 1.57p) reflects the current
LTIP share options in issue which dilute the basic earnings per share.
There were no dividends paid, recommended, or declared during the current and
prior financial year. The Group is focused on delivering its medium-term
objectives and will deploy cash in line with the capital allocation policy
that was published in December 2024.
Investing cash to deliver the medium-term objectives
The Group has made some significant investments in the year that leave it well
positioned to continue its progress towards the delivery of the medium-term
objectives despite the continued challenging operating environment
characterised by an uncertain consumer landscape, competitive pricing
pressures, particularly in Europe, and inflationary headwinds within the cost
base.
Cashflow
During FY25 £3.7m of cash was deployed, reducing the cash balance to £12.1m
as the Group invests in the delivery of its medium-term objectives alongside
the initiation of the buyback program launched in December 2024.
Adjusted measure * Consolidated statement of cash flows*
31 January 31 January 31 January 31 January
2025 2024 2025 2024
£m £m £m £m
Opening cash 15.8 14.1 15.8 14.1
EBITDA 3.4 2.8 6.2 5.3
Movement in working capital (2.5) 1.2 (2.4) 1.0
Interest received 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.5
Interest paid - - (0.6) (0.5)
Taxation paid / (received) (0.1) 0.1 (0.1) 0.1
Other - - 0.1 0.0
Net cash from operating activities 1.4 4.6 3.8 6.4
Acquisitions (0.2) - (0.7) -
Tangible and intangible fixed assets (4.2) (2.9) (4.2) (2.9)
Net cash used in investing activities (4.4) (2.9) (4.9) (2.9)
Net cash movement, pre-buy backs (3.0) 1.7 (1.1) 3.5
Repayment of leases - - (2.0) (1.8)
Share buy backs (0.6) - (0.6) -
Net cash used in financing activities (0.6) - (2.6) (1.8)
Net in cash movement (3.6) 1.7 (3.7) 1.7
FX changes on cash equivalents (0.1) 0.0 (0.1) 0.0
Closing cash 12.1 15.8 12.1 15.8
*The table above includes an 'adjusted measure' of cashflow used by management
to monitor the financial performance and position of the business, presented
on a pre IFRS 16 (leases) and pre IFRS 2 (share based payments) basis and
stock purchased via acquisitions is reported through working capital and not
investing activities. The consolidated statement of cash flows in the table
above is presented on a statutory / reported basis as set out later in this
document.
The Group invested £6.9m in the delivery of its medium-term objectives
through £2.5m of working capital investment and £4.4m of capital
expenditure:
· £2.5m of working capital investment reflects: (i) £4.1m of additional stock
holding as a result of the accelerated store rollout programme, increased own
brand stock and opportunistic investment to underpin availability ahead of the
peak trading season; and (ii) only partially offset by higher creditors,
offsetting the cash impact.
· £4.4m of capital expenditure reflecting the accelerated store rollout
programme, refits of two stores, new own brand logistics capacity and
capability, 'shop the range' roll out and the balance of the automated packing
solution for UK web fulfilment.
This investment was partially offset by the strengthening trading results with
Adjusted EBITDA generation of £3.4m (FY24: £2.8m) and an increase in
interest received to £0.6m (FY24: £0.5m). This results in net cash deployed
of £3.0m (FY24: £1.7m inflow) on a pre-buyback basis.
In December 2024 the Group published its capital allocation policy and
launched a £4m buyback programme, with £0.6m returned to shareholders at 31
January 2025. This results in an overall net cash outflow of £3.6m (FY24:
£1.6m inflow).
Financial position
The consolidated statement of financial position remains robust. At the end of
FY25 the Group had a net asset position of £39.4m (FY24: £38.5m) and a net
current asset position of £23.0m (FY24: £24.3m).
The Group continued to have no external borrowing (outside of IFRS 16 lease
liabilities) as at the reporting date and closed FY25 with a cash and cash
equivalents position of £12.1m (FY24: £15.8m). Net debt (representing the
Group's IFRS16 lease liabilities less the cash position as at the reporting
date) decreased to £0.8m from (-£4.2m) in FY24, reflecting the £3.7m
underlying cash movement (see above) and a c£1.3m increase in the IFRS 16
lease liabilities driven by the accelerated investment in new store space and
own brand logistics capacity and capability.
The fixed asset increase in intangible and property, plant and equipment
assets of £2.6m was primarily driven by the continued investment in the
medium-term objectives, as set out in the 'cashflow and funding section'
above.
Right-of-use IFRS 16 assets increased by £1.1m, primarily reflecting the
accelerated roll out of the store estate with six new stores and the new own
brand logistics capacity and capability. The right-of-use assets increase is
offset by the corresponding £1.3m increase in the IFRS 16 lease liabilities
(current and non-current), .
Working capital investment increased by £2.5m, as set out in the 'cashflow
and funding section' above.
The deferred tax provision increased £0.5m reflecting temporary differences
between accounting and tax treatment, with the majority of the movement
relating to capital allowances but partially offset by differences arising
from provisions and tax losses..
1 All UK like-for-like analysis excludes the Reading store which didn't
materially trade in FY24 after it suffered a fire in the first week of
February 2023.
(2) The L4L European business excludes the financial performance of the first
European store
___________________________
Sam Copeman
Chief Financial Officer
12 May 2025
Angling Direct PLC
Consolidated statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income
For the year ended 31 January 2025
Consolidated
Note 2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Revenue from contracts with customers 4 91,339 81,657
Cost of sales of goods 7 (58,287) (53,153)
Gross profit 33,052 28,504
Other income 5 45 205
Interest revenue calculated using the effective interest method 575 494
Expenses
Administrative expenses (27,301) (23,728)
Distribution expenses (3,754) (3,458)
Finance costs 7 (659) (500)
Profit before income tax expense 1,958 1,517
Income tax expense 9 (530) (299)
Profit after income tax expense for the year attributable to the owners of 1,428 1,218
Angling Direct PLC
Other comprehensive income
Items that may be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss
Foreign currency translation (74) (96)
Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax (74) (96)
Total comprehensive income for the year attributable to the owners of Angling 1,354 1,122
Direct PLC
Pence Pence
Basic earnings per share 24 1.85 1.58
Diluted earnings per share 24 1.84 1.57
Angling Direct PLC
Consolidated statement of financial position
As at 31 January 2025
Consolidated
Note 2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Non-current assets
Intangibles 10 6,355 6,052
Property, plant and equipment 11 10,950 8,675
Right-of-use assets 12 12,352 11,237
Total non-current assets 29,657 25,964
Current assets
Inventories 13 21,279 16,974
Trade and other receivables 14 598 403
Derivative financial instruments 15 -
Income tax refund due 37 -
Prepayments 698 811
Cash and cash equivalents 12,060 15,765
Total current assets 34,687 33,953
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables 15 8,522 6,976
Contract liabilities 16 946 790
Lease liabilities 17 2,211 1,809
Derivative financial instruments - 9
Income tax - 32
Total current liabilities 11,679 9,616
Net current assets 23,008 24,337
Total assets less current liabilities 52,665 50,301
Non-current liabilities
Lease liabilities 17 10,649 9,754
Restoration provision 18 922 851
Deferred tax 19 1,673 1,171
Total non-current liabilities 13,244 11,776
Net assets 39,421 38,525
Equity
Share capital 20 773 773
Treasury shares 20 (605) -
Share premium 21 31,037 31,037
Reserves 22 692 619
Retained profits 7,524 6,096
Total equity 39,421 38,525
The financial statements of Angling Direct PLC (company number 05151321
(England and Wales)) were approved by the Board of Directors and authorised
for issue on 12 May 2025. They were signed on its behalf by:
Angling Direct PLC Total equity
Consolidated statement of changes in equity
For the year ended 31 January 2025
Share Share Retained
premium
capital account Reserves profits
Consolidated £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Balance at 1 February 2023 773 31,037 602 4,878 37,290
Profit after income tax expense for the year - - - 1,218 1,218
Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax - - (96) - (96)
Total comprehensive income for the year - - (96) 1,218 1,122
Transactions with owners in their capacity as owners:
Share-based payments (note 35) - - 113 - 113
Balance at 31 January 2024 773 31,037 619 6,096 38,525
Share Treasury Share Retained Total equity
premium
capital shares account Reserves profits
Consolidated £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Balance at 1 February 2024 773 - 31,037 619 6,096 38,525
Profit after income tax expense for the year - - - - 1,428 1,428
Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax - - - (74) - (74)
Total comprehensive income for the year - - - (74) 1,428 1,354
Transactions with owners in their capacity as owners:
Share-based payments (note 35) - - - 147 - 147
Own shares acquired in the year (note 21) - (605) - - - (605)
Balance at 31 January 2025 773 (605) 31,037 692 7,524 39,421
Angling Direct PLC
Consolidated statement of cash flows
For the year ended 31 January 2025
Consolidated
Note 2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Cash flows from operating activities
Profit before income tax expense for the year 1,958 1,517
Adjustments for:
Depreciation and amortisation 4,236 3,796
Share-based payments 147 113
Net movement in provisions 40 30
Net variance in derivative liabilities (24) (42)
Interest received (575) (494)
Interest and other finance costs 659 512
6,425 5,432
Change in operating assets and liabilities:
(Increase)/decrease in trade and other receivables (195) 49
(Increase)/decrease in inventories (3,837) 910
Decrease/(increase) in prepayments 113 (206)
Increase in trade and other payables 1,384 171
Increase in contract liabilities 156 63
4,046 6,419
Interest received 575 494
Interest and other finance costs (643) (512)
Income taxes (paid)/refunded (97) 79
Net cash from operating activities 3,881 6,480
Cash flows from investing activities
Payment for purchase of business, net of cash acquired (740) -
Payments for property, plant and equipment (3,674) (2,595)
Payments for intangibles (482) (332)
Proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment 17 -
Net cash used in investing activities (4,879) (2,927)
Cash flows from financing activities
Payments for shares buy-back (treasury shares) (605) -
Repayment of lease liabilities (2,007) (1,835)
Net cash used in financing activities (2,612) (1,835)
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents (3,610) 1,718
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the financial year 15,765 14,127
Effects of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents (95) (80)
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the financial year 12,060 15,765
Angling Direct PLC
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
31 January 2025
1. Basis of preparation
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with UK adopted
international accounting standards.
The financial information set out does not constitute the company's statutory
accounts for the years ended 31 January 2025 and 31 January 2024. Statutory
accounts for the years ended 31 January 2025 and 31 January 2024 have been
reported on by the Independent Auditors. The Independent Auditors report on
the Annual Report and Financial Statements for the years ended 31 January 2025
and 31 January 2024 is unqualified.
Statutory accounts for the year ended 31 January 2024 have been filed with the
Registrar of Companies. The statutory accounts of the year ended 31 January
2025 will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies in due course.
2.Going concern including liquidity
The Group has considerable financial resources together with long-standing
relationships with a number of key suppliers and an established reputation in
the retail sector across the UK and Europe.
The Directors have considered the Group's growth prospects in the period to 31
January 2027 based on its customer proposition and online offering in the UK
and Europe and concluded that potential growth rates remain strong. The Group
has no external finance outside of its right-of-use lease liabilities. The
Group has conducted various stress tests, none of which resulted in a change
to the assessment of the Group as a going concern.
In making this judgement, the Directors have reviewed the future viability and
going concern position of the Group for the foreseeable future.
The Group's policy is to ensure that it has sufficient facilities to cover its
future funding requirements. At 31 January 2025, the Group had cash and cash
equivalents of £12.1m (31 January 2024: £15.8m). This significant headroom
has been factored into the Directors' going concern assessment.
Having duly considered all of these factors and having reviewed the forecasts
for the coming year, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the
Group has adequate resources to continue trading for the foreseeable future,
and as such continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in
preparing the financial statements.
3. Segmental reporting
Segment information is presented in respect of the Group's operating segments,
based on the Group's management and internal reporting structure, and
monitored by the Group's Chief Operating Decision Maker (CODM).
Segment results, assets and liabilities include items directly attributable to
a segment as well as those that can be allocated on a reasonable basis.
Unallocated items comprise mainly own brand stock in transit from the
manufacturers, group cash and cash equivalents, taxation related assets and
liabilities, centralised support functions salary and premises costs, and
government grant income.
Operating segments
Management has made a judgement that there are three operating segments (UK
Stores, UK Online and Europe). The business operated predominantly in the UK,
also operating three native language web sites for Germany, France and the
Netherlands, and one store in the Netherlands, being the European segment.
Each of these operating segments is managed separately as each segment
requires different specialisms, marketing approaches and resources. Head
Office includes costs relating to the employees, property and other overhead
costs associated with the centralised support functions.
Where the customer contract is fulfilled by an operating segment other than
the segment to which the customer order was placed, the revenue is recognised
in the operating segment to which the order originates, and the profit
attributable to that transaction is recognised in the operating segment
fulfilling the order. In 2025, Revenue of £2,630,000 (2024: £683,000) was
recognised in the UK Online and fulfilled by the Stores, and profit of
£472,000 (2024: £44,000) was transferred to the Stores from the UK Online
segment.
The CODM reviews EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and
amortisation) pre IFRS 16 and IFRS 2. The accounting policies adopted for
internal reporting to the CODM are consistent with those adopted in the
financial statements, save for IFRS 16 and IFRS 2. A full reconciliation of
pre IFRS 16 and IFRS 2 EBITDA to post IFRS 16 and IFRS 2 EBITDA performance is
provided to the CODM.
The information reported to the CODM is on a monthly basis.
At 31 January 2025, £28,734,000 of non-current assets are located in the
UK (31 January 2024: £24,965,000) and £924,000 of non-current assets are
located in the Netherlands (31 January 2024: £1,086,000).
There are no major customers in the current year and prior year that
contribute more than 10% of the Group's revenue.
Operating segment information
UK UK
Stores Online Europe Head office Total
Consolidated - 2025 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Revenue 50,742 35,708 4,889 - 91,339
Profit/(loss) before income tax expense 5,034 3,316 (905) (5,487) 1,958
EBITDA - post IFRS16 and IFRS 2 8,483 4,078 (591) (5,692) 6,278
Total assets 23,564 6,234 1,545 32,869 64,212
Total liabilities (11,214) (8,911) (982) (3,684) (24,791)
EBITDA Reconciliation
Profit/(loss) before income tax expense 5,034 3,316 (905) (5,487) 1,958
Less: Interest income - - - (575) (575)
Add: Interest expense 565 51 32 11 659
Add: Depreciation and amortisation 2,884 711 282 359 4,236
EBITDA post IFRS 16 and IFRS 2 8,483 4,078 (591) (5,692) 6,278
Less: Costs relating to IFRS 16 lease liabilities (2,378) (188) (257) (238) (3,061)
Add: Costs relating to IFRS 2 share-based payments - - - 147 147
Adjusted EBITDA 6,105 3,890 (848) (5,783) 3,364
UK UK
Stores Online Europe Head office Total
Consolidated - 2024 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Revenue 44,438 32,933 4,286 - 81,657
Profit/(loss) before income tax expense 4,171 3,198 (1,018) (4,834) 1,517
EBITDA - post IFRS16 and IFRS 2 7,391 3,756 (745) (5,083) 5,319
Total assets 26,036 6,679 3,657 23,545 59,917
Total liabilities (11,885) (3,619) (1,187) (4,701) (21,392)
EBITDA Reconciliation
Profit/(loss) before income tax expense 4,171 3,198 (1,018) (4,834) 1,517
Less: Interest income - - - (494) (494)
Add: Interest expense 455 42 32 (29) 500
Add: Depreciation and amortisation 2,765 516 241 274 3,796
EBITDA post IFRS 16 and IFRS 2 7,391 3,756 (745) (5,083) 5,319
Less: Costs relating to IFRS 16 lease liabilities (2,047) (180) (220) (181) (2,628)
Add: Costs relating to IFRS 2 share-based payments - - - 113 113
Adjusted EBITDA 5,344 3,576 (965) (5,151) 2,804
4. Revenue from contracts with customers
Disaggregation of revenue
The disaggregation of revenue from contracts with customers is as follows:
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Route to market
Retail store sales 51,040 44,438
E-commerce 40,299 37,219
91,339 81,657
Geographical regions
United Kingdom 86,449 77,371
Europe and Rest of the World 4,890 4,286
91,339 81,657
Timing of revenue recognition
Goods transferred at a point in time 91,339 81,657
5. Other income
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Insurance claim - 154
Rental income 45 51
Other income 45 205
6. EBITDA reconciliation (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and
amortisation)
The Directors believe that adjusted profit provides additional useful
information for shareholders on performance. This is used for internal
performance analysis. This measure is not defined by IFRS and is not intended
to be a substitute for, or superior to, IFRS measurements of profit. The
following table is provided to show the comparative earnings before interest,
tax, depreciation and amortisation ('EBITDA') after adjusting for rents,
dilapidation charges and associated legal costs, where applicable, relating to
IFRS 16 lease liabilities, and adjusting for IFRS 2 share-based payments.
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
EBITDA reconciliation
Profit before income tax expense 1,958 1,517
Less: Interest income (575) (494)
Add: Interest expense 659 500
Add: Depreciation and amortisation 4,236 3,796
EBITDA post IFRS 16 and IFRS 2 6,278 5,319
Less: costs relating to IFRS 16 lease liabilities (3,061) (2,628)
Add: Costs relating to IFRS 2 share-based payments 147 113
Adjusted EBITDA 3,364 2,804
7. Expenses
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Profit before income tax includes the following specific expenses:
Cost of sales
Cost of inventories as included in 'cost of sales' 58,287 53,153
Depreciation
Land and buildings improvements 9 10
Plant and equipment 1,314 1,142
Motor vehicles 4 2
Computer equipment 197 191
Land and buildings right-of-use assets 2,239 2,032
Plant and equipment right-of-use assets 6 7
Motor vehicles right-of-use assets 69 66
Computer equipment right-of-use assets 6 6
Total depreciation 3,844 3,456
Amortisation
Software 392 340
Total depreciation and amortisation * 4,236 3,796
Finance costs
Interest and finance charges paid/payable on lease liabilities 643 512
Interest and finance charges on restoration provision 40 30
Change in fair value of forward foreign currency hedges (24) (42)
Finance costs expensed 659 500
Foreign exchange gains (33) (4)
Leases
Short-term lease payments 39 20
Low-value assets lease payments 52 70
Total leases expensed 91 90
* Depreciation and amortisation expense is included within "administrative
expenses" in the Statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income.
8. Staff costs
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Aggregate remuneration:
Wages and salaries 11,444 10,453
Social security costs 1,036 944
Other pension costs 526 465
Total staff costs 13,006 11,862
The average number of employees during the year was as follows:
Consolidated
2025 2024
Stores 339 303
Warehouse 49 51
Administration 44 41
Marketing and digital trading 20 26
IT and web 12 12
Management 9 9
Other 5 4
Average number of employees 478 446
Staff costs above include Directors' salaries, social security costs and other
pension costs. Directors' remuneration is detailed in the Remuneration report
which forms part of these financial statements.
9. Income tax expense
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Income tax expense
Current tax 19 45
Deferred tax - origination and reversal of temporary differences 508 329
Current tax adjustment recognised for prior periods 9 (34)
Deferred tax adjustment recognised for prior periods (6) (41)
Aggregate income tax expense 530 299
Numerical reconciliation of income tax expense and tax at the statutory rate
Profit before income tax expense 1,958 1,517
Tax at the statutory tax rate of 25% (2024: 24.03%) 490 365
Tax effect amounts which are not deductible/(taxable) in calculating taxable
income:
Non-qualifying depreciation 4 8
Super deduction rate - (12)
Non-deductible expenses 33 -
Deferred tax rate change - 13
527 374
Adjustment recognised for prior periods 3 (75)
Income tax expense 530 299
The corporate income tax rate went from 19% to 25% from 1 April 2023 hence an
average rate of 24.03% for the year ended 31 January 2024.
10. Intangibles
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Non-current assets
Goodwill - at cost 6,015 5,802
Less: Impairment (182) (182)
5,833 5,620
Software - at cost 2,534 2,052
Less: Accumulated amortisation (2,012) (1,620)
522 432
6,355 6,052
Reconciliations
Reconciliations of the written down values at the beginning and end of the
current and previous financial year are set out below:
Goodwill Software Total
Consolidated £'000 £'000 £'000
Balance at 1 February 2023 5,620 440 6,060
Additions - 332 332
Amortisation expense - (340) (340)
Balance at 31 January 2024 5,620 432 6,052
Additions - 482 482
Additions through business combinations 213 - 213
Amortisation expense - (392) (392)
Balance at 31 January 2025 5,833 522 6,355
11. Property, plant and equipment
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Non-current assets
Land and buildings improvements - at cost 1,002 1,002
Less: Accumulated depreciation (361) (352)
641 650
Plant and equipment - at cost 14,759 11,116
Less: Accumulated depreciation (4,910) (3,607)
9,849 7,509
Motor vehicles - at cost 59 9
Less: Accumulated depreciation (12) (8)
47 1
Computer equipment - at cost 1,526 1,432
Less: Accumulated depreciation (1,113) (917)
413 515
10,950 8,675
Reconciliations
Reconciliations of the written down values at the beginning and end of the
current and previous financial year are set out below:
Land and Plant and Motor Computer
buildings
improvements equipment vehicles equipment Total
Consolidated £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Balance at 1 February 2023 660 6,322 3 549 7,534
Additions - 2,335 - 157 2,492
Exchange differences - (6) - - (6)
Depreciation expense (10) (1,142) (2) (191) (1,345)
Balance at 31 January 2024 650 7,509 1 515 8,675
Additions - 3,612 50 93 3,755
Additions through business combinations - 65 - - 65
Disposals - (17) - - (17)
Exchange differences - (6) - 2 (4)
Depreciation expense (9) (1,314) (4) (197) (1,524)
Balance at 31 January 2025 641 9,849 47 413 10,950
12. Right-of-use assets
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Non-current assets
Land and buildings - long leasehold - right-of-use 22,033 21,089
Less: Accumulated depreciation (9,765) (10,017)
12,268 11,072
Plant and equipment - right-of-use 80 80
Less: Accumulated depreciation (69) (63)
11 17
Motor vehicles - right-of-use 248 510
Less: Accumulated depreciation (177) (370)
71 140
Computer equipment - right-of-use 59 59
Less: Accumulated depreciation (57) (51)
2 8
12,352 11,237
Reconciliations
Reconciliations of the written down values at the beginning and end of the
current and previous financial year are set out below:
Land and Plant and Motor Computer
buildings equipment vehicles equipment Total
Consolidated £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Balance at 1 February 2023 11,251 24 129 14 11,418
Additions 1,481 - 77 - 1,558
Remeasurement 398 - - - 398
Exchange differences (26) - - - (26)
Depreciation expense (2,032) (7) (66) (6) (2,111)
Balance at 31 January 2024 11,072 17 140 8 11,237
Additions 3,409 - - - 3,409
Remeasurement 46 - - - 46
Exchange differences (20) - - - (20)
Depreciation expense (2,239) (6) (69) (6) (2,320)
Balance at 31 January 2025 12,268 11 71 2 12,352
13. Inventories
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Current assets
Finished goods - at cost 21,279 16,974
Finished goods include £0.05m (31 January 2024: £0.05m) of provisions for
obsolescence. The movement in this provision reflects the net realisable value
of the product lines was recognised through the statement of profit or loss
during the year to 31 January 2025.
14. Trade and other receivables
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Current assets
Trade receivables 76 23
Other receivables 522 380
598 403
15. Trade and other payables
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Current liabilities
Trade payables 5,028 4,503
Accrued expenses 1,970 1,107
Refund liabilities 36 32
Social security and other taxes 687 367
Other payables 801 967
8,522 6,976
16. Contract liabilities
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Current liabilities
Contract liabilities 946 790
Reconciliation
Reconciliation of the written down values at the beginning and end of the
current and previous financial year are set out below:
Opening balance (Contract liabilities at the start of the year) 790 727
Issued in year 2,967 2,821
Redeemed in year (2,811) (2,758)
Closing balance (Contract liabilities at the end of the year) 946 790
The contract liabilities primarily relate to unredeemed vouchers and gift
cards. This will be recognised as revenue when the vouchers and gift cards are
redeemed by customers, which is expected to occur over the next two years.
17. Lease liabilities
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Current liabilities
Lease liability 2,211 1,809
Non-current liabilities
Lease liability 10,649 9,754
12,860 11,563
18. Restoration provision
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Non-current liabilities
Restoration provision 922 851
Movements in provisions
Movements in each class of provision during the current financial year are set
out below:
Restoration
provision
Consolidated - 2025 £'000
Carrying amount at the start of the year 851
Additional provisions recognised 118
Unwinding of discount 37
Provisions released on disposal (82)
Effects of movement in exchange rates (2)
Carrying amount at the end of the year 922
19. Deferred tax
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Non-current liabilities
Deferred tax liability comprises temporary differences attributable to:
Property, plant and equipment 2,132 1,463
IFRS 16 transitional adjustment (47) (58)
Options issued (184) (147)
Tax losses (228) (87)
Deferred tax liability 1,673 1,171
Movements:
Opening balance 1,171 883
Charged/(credited) to profit or loss (note 10) 508 329
Adjustment recognised for prior periods (6) (41)
Closing balance 1,673 1,171
20. Share capital
Consolidated
2025 2024 2025 2024
Shares Shares £'000 £'000
Ordinary shares of £0.01 each - fully paid 77,267,304 77,267,304 773 773
Share buy-back (treasury shares) (605) -
21. Share premium
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Share premium account 31,037 31,037
The share premium account is used to recognise the difference between the
issued share capital at nominal value and the capital received, net of
transaction costs.
22. Reserves
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Foreign currency reserve (43) 31
Share-based payments reserve 735 588
692 619
Foreign currency reserve
The foreign currency translation reserve comprises exchange differences
relating to the translation of the net assets of the Group's foreign
subsidiary from their functional currency into the parent's functional
currency.
Share-based payments reserve
The reserve is used to recognise the value of equity benefits provided to
employees and Directors as part of their remuneration.
Movements in reserves
Movements in each class of reserve during the current and previous financial
year are set out below:
Foreign Share-based
currency payments Total
Consolidated £'000 £'000 £'000
Balance at 1 February 2023 127 475 602
Foreign currency translation gains (96) - (96)
Options granted - 113 113
Balance at 31 January 2024 31 588 619
Foreign currency translation gains (74) - (74)
Options granted - 147 147
Balance at 31 January 2025 (43) 735 692
23. Dividends
There were no dividends paid, recommended or declared during the current or
previous financial year.
24. Earnings per share
Consolidated
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Profit after income tax attributable to the owners of Angling Direct PLC 1,428 1,218
Number Number
Weighted average number of ordinary shares used in calculating basic earnings 77,139,433 77,267,304
per share
Adjustments for calculation of diluted earnings per share:
Options over ordinary shares 618,263 515,516
Weighted average number of ordinary shares used in calculating diluted 77,757,696 77,782,820
earnings per share
Pence Pence
Basic earnings per share 1.85 1.58
Diluted earnings per share 1.84 1.57
25. Events after the reporting period
The Company has continued its buyback programme since the 31 January 2025. All
buybacks are published daily at
https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/corprate/investors/regulatory-news
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