Financial Highlights
Group like-for-like sales of £126m, including VAT, up 5.5% (2013/14: up 4.2%):
- Like-for-like retail sales up 7.1% (2013/14: up 6.4%)
- Like-for-like hire sales, representing 14% of sales, down 3.6%
E-commerce sales up 58.9%, now 7.8% of total sales.
Profit before tax was up 9.0% at £4.8m (2013/14: £4.4m).
EBITDA up 5.4% to £9.7m (2013/14:EBITDA £9.2m), driven by improved sales and tight control over costs.
Gross margin fell in total for the year by 70 basis points to 58.3% due to a lower participation of the higher margin hire business in the overall sales mix:
Strong cash balance of £19.6m (2013/14: £28.3m) following ongoing investment in store refit programme and earlier intake of new season's stock. Cash generated from operating activities of £5.2m (2013/14: £9.5m)
Basic earnings per share, on continuing operations, of 4.02 pence (2013/14: 3.76 pence per share).
Final dividend proposed of 3.55 pence, total dividend for the year 5.25 pence, up 0.25 pence (5%) on the previous year (2013/14: total dividend 5.0 pence).
