Marks Electrical revenues jump 25% in H1

Marks Electrical reported a jump in first-half revenues on Thursday as it pointed to "continued trading momentum".

In an update for the six months to the end of September, the online electrical retailer said revenues grew 24.8% year-on-year to £53.9m. It hailed a "robust" performance across product categories, with particularly high growth in televisions, washer-dryers and American fridge-freezers.

Marks noted continued market share gains in the major domestic appliance and consumer electronics markets. It also highlighted rapid growth in its premium next-day service offerings, with integrated, gas, electric and television installation services achieving more than 7,000 installation orders in H1, versus 2,500 in the same period a year earlier. Orders for freestanding connection services came in at more than 11,000, versus 5,000.

The company said the decision to introduce its own installation service, along with inflationary pressures in distribution costs impacted margins, but this pressure is expected to ease over H2 as it benefits from improved operating leverage during the peak trading period.

Chief executive Mark Smithson said: "We've built on the good momentum delivered at the start FY24, with revenue growth of 24.8% against a major domestic appliances & consumer electronics market that is broadly flat in the first half of our financial year.

"Our strategic decision to add in-house installation services to our offering has strengthened the group's premium service proposition, enabling us to develop a market leading installation offering, growing market share and driving revenue growth. The launch of this service, alongside the well documented industry-wide pressures regarding wage inflation, impacted our H1 margin, with the pressure on distribution and installation costs being higher than expected."