Findel swings to profit thanks to Express Gifts performance

Home shopping and education supplies group Findel PLC announced on Wednesday that it swung to a profit in the 12 months leading up to 30 March, after a strong showing from its Express Gifts business.

The company reported a profit before tax of £22.1m for the period, compared to a loss of £59.4m in the previous year, thanks to a 4.8% increase in revenues to £479m powered by a 9.6% rise in Express Gifts sales on a like-for-like basis, to £285.1m.

Despite that, at period end the group's debt load stood at £232.3m, up 3.3% on the previous year.

Phil Maudsley, group chief executive, said: "This has been a year of good sales growth and improved profitability through our focus on delivering great-value products to our customers across all channels. The year has also seen significant progress against our strategic objectives and both businesses continue to transform their digital sales offering."

The group’s education division recorded a revenue fall of 6.7% to £85.6m after the business transitioned to a more online oriented sales strategy under its Studio brand.

"I am delighted to report that we have more customers shopping with Studio than ever before, that our Education business has seen a transformational shift in the last year towards online ordering, and that our improved results for FY18 were delivered without adjustment for individually significant items," said Maudsley.

The company said online ordering in the education market has been much slower to emerge than in others, but it saw online orders rise from approximately 19% of all education orders to roughly 50% in a trend that Findel expects to continue.

As of 1414 BST, Findel PLC’s shares were up 4.94% at 255.00p.