Hornby Q3 sales grow on solid Black Friday performance

Model railways group Hornby said on Wednesday that third-quarter sales had steamed ahead year-on-year, mostly driven by a solid Black Friday performance.

Hornby said Q3 group sales were up 5% year-on-year, while cumulative group sales for the financial year-to-date were ahead of last year by 6%.

The London-listed group said a "strong programme of activity around Black Friday" contributed to 10% revenue growth for November, with more than 50% of all Black Friday transactions coming from first-time purchasers.

Hornby added that its direct-to-consumer sales continued to increase, up 30% over the same period last year, while margins for the quarter were 46%, up from 43.8% at the half year, reflecting the increase in D2C activities and additional full-price sales as a result of an uplift in web traffic.

Chief executive Olly Raeburn said: "As outlined in our Interim results to end of September, this is a year of significant strategic, structural and operational change, requiring investment in many areas. We continue to make good progress on our key strategic initiatives and look forward to a return to profitable growth in the next financial year"

As of 1115 GMT, Hornby shares were up 3.16% at 15.99p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com