REG - Gear4music - Trading Update

Gear4music (HOLDINGS)Announcement

20/01/2022 07:05

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20220120:nRST0130Za&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 0130Z  Gear4music (Holdings) PLC  20 January 2022

 

20 January 2022

 

Gear4music (Holdings) plc

Trading Update

 

Gear4music (Holdings) plc ("Gear4music" or "the Group"), the largest UK based
online retailer of musical instruments and music equipment, today announces a
trading update for the three months to 31 December 2021.

 

 £m                                    3m to 31 Dec 2021  3m to 31 Dec 2020  3m to 31 Dec 2019  % change on FY21 Q3  % change on FY20 Q3
 UK sales                              26.0               23.0               20.9               +13%                 +24%
 European and Rest of the World sales  21.2               29.2               19.4               -27%                 +9%
 Total sales                           47.2               52.2               40.3               -10%                 +17%

 

FY22 Q3 Highlights

 

-     Gross margins remained strong at 28.4%, compared to 26.2% in FY20 Q3
and an exceptional 29.9% last year

-     Gross profits increased 27% compared to FY20 Q3

-     Continued robust UK sales were 24% ahead of FY20 Q3 and 13% ahead of
FY21 Q3

-     FY22 EBITDA continues to be in-line with consensus market
expectations*

-     New European distribution centres are scaling up well to address
post-Brexit challenges, which as previously reported have impacted European
sales

-     AV.com website launched as planned on 13 January 2022

 

Gear4music's Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Wass, said:

"We are pleased to report that financial performance during the FY22 peak
seasonal trading period was in line with the Board's expectations,
demonstrating good progress when compared with the same period in FY20.

UK sales growth continued to be robust against what were exceptional revenues
last year, and as previously reported, European growth has been restricted due
to short term Brexit related challenges. We are continuing to make good
progress in scaling up our new European distribution centres in Ireland and
Spain to strengthen our European customer proposition, and we expect European
revenues to regain momentum as we head into FY23.

Following the successful acquisition of AV Distribution Ltd in December 2021,
we were very pleased to have successfully launched AV.com as scheduled on 13
January 2022. AV.com is currently focused on retailing Home Cinema and HiFi
equipment and accessories and significantly increases our addressable market
size.

We have a strong pipeline of new products, e-commerce system developments and
new website features due to be launched throughout FY23, and as such, we
remain confident in our long-term profitable growth strategy."

* Gear4music believes that consensus market expectations for the year ending
31 March 2022 are currently revenue of £149.2 million and EBITDA of £12.0
million.

 

ENDS

 

 

Enquiries:

 

 Gear4music                                                   +44 (0)20 3405 0205

 Andrew Wass, Chief Executive Officer

 Chris Scott, Chief Financial Officer

 Singer Capital Markets - Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker  +44 (0)20 7496 3000

 Peter Steel/Amanda Gray, Corporate Finance

 Tom Salvesen, Corporate Broking

 Investec Bank plc - Joint Broker                             +44 (0)20 7597 5970

 David Flin

 Alex Wright

 Harry Hargreaves

 Alma PR - Financial PR                                       +44 (0)20 3405 0205

 Rebecca Sanders-Hewett                                       Gear4music@almapr.co.uk

 Josh Royston

 Faye Calow

 

About Gear4music (Holdings) plc

Operating from a Head Office in York, Distribution Centres in York, Sweden,
Germany, Ireland & Spain, and showrooms in York, Sweden & Germany, the
Group sells own-brand musical instruments and music equipment alongside
premium third-party brands including Fender, Yamaha and Roland, to customers
ranging from beginners to musical enthusiasts and professionals, in the UK,
Europe and the Rest of the World.

 

Having developed its own e-commerce platform, with multilingual, multicurrency
websites delivering to over 190 countries, the Group continues to build its
overseas presence.

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
Regulation (EU) No 596/2014.

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTDKLFFLFLEBBF