Angling Direct opens 30th UK store; summer trading solid

Fishing retailer Angling Direct said on Monday that trading over the summer was solid as it announced the opening of its 30th UK store in Milton Keynes.

The company said it traded well between 1 June and the end of August, with high footfall across its store network and record unique user numbers online. In-store like-for-like sales grew 13.3% during the period and 26.7% online, with August being a record sales month for the company. It generated £5.5m of turnover, with online sales up 40% on the year.

Turnover in the three-month period was up 31% on the previous year overall and the trend continued into September.

Chief executive officer Darren Bailey said: "The summer trading conditions have been favourable with the weather having been good. We were delighted that both our established and new stores experienced strong footfall, which was backed up by strong like for like sales both in-store and online, delivering a record month in August."

The company said that its new Milton Keynes store, which started trading on Saturday, is in a "hugely popular" fishing area, with a large angling community and a series of lakes and river venues.

It's the only fishing tackle "destination store" of its kind in the area, it said, located just south of the town on a major retail park.

At 1320 BST, the shares were up 6.2% at 64.25p.