Marks Electrical half-year revenues jump despite challenging backdrop

Online electricals retailer Marks Electrical reported a jump in first-half revenues on Tuesday as it grew market share despite a challenging backdrop.

In the six months to 30 September, revenue rose 15.1% from the same period a year earlier to £43.1m. This was a sequential improvement on the 13.7% growth seen in the first four months of the year and came against "a particularly challenging market backdrop," Marks said.

It cited continued market share gains in the major domestic appliance and consumer electronics markets and said all categories had driven growth, but particularly televisions, cookers, vacuums and small appliances.

Chief executive Mark Smithson said: "After a solid performance in the first four months, the group's positive trading momentum has continued in August and September as we continued to harness our market-leading customer service proposition and build brand awareness, enabling the group to deliver continued revenue growth and market share gains.

"The strong competitive activity we saw in pricing during the first quarter has begun to ease more recently and despite the margin pressure this has had in the first half, we remain focused on controlling our overhead base and confident of achieving our full year targets."