Card Factory revenue rises, hikes dividend

Card Factory’s full year revenue increased as new store openings matured and it hiked its dividend, although it was affected by the overall slump in the retail sector.

For the year ended 31 January, revenue rose 4.3% to £398.2m compared to the previous year.

However, like-for-like revenue growth fell to 0.6% from 3% in 2016, while store LFL growth fell to 0.4% from 2.8%, due to lower levels of footfall in the retail market.

The FTSE 250 company benefitted from a good Christmas period which cumulative LFL sales growth for the fourth quarter returning to the expected historic range of 1% to 3%.

Underlying Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 3.8% to £98.5m and underlying operating profit rose 3% to £87.8m.

Underlying pre-tax profit was up 3.8% to £85.1m.

But basic earnings per share fell 1.1% to 19.3p, but the company did declare a final dividend of 6.3p, up 5% , the total dividend per share was 9.1p, a 7.1% increase, and a special dividend of 15p was paid last November.

Chief executive Karen Hubbard has undertaken a strategic review of the business after joining the company just over a year ago and said that within Card Factory’s existing four pillar strategy there are opportunities to further strengthen the business for the longer term, which will be prioritised in the year ahead.

Looking ahead, she said that while “the new financial year is only two months old and seasonal sales patterns are distorted by Easter and Mother's Day falling three weeks later than last year, we are pleased with everyday like-for-like sales in the year to date”.