New stores push Ramsdens profits down despite revenue growth

For the six-month period ended 30 September, the financial services provider and retailer’s profit before tax stood at £5m, down 3% on H1 last year with its EBITDA dropping 3% to £5.7m.

This was the result of the costs associated with the opening of four new stores, taking the total amount up to 139, which Ramsdens said had put in an “encouraging” performance since they started trading.

The falls came despite revenue increasing by 10% to £23.9m as retail jewellery and pawnbroking trading improved.

Jewellery sales grew by 27% to £4.5m, with online sales up by an impressive 126%, while pawnbroking customer numbers increased by 2.7%.

Peter Kenyon, chief executive of Ramsdens, said: "Whilst there have been headwinds for the foreign currency exchange market in the UK driven by 'staycation' trends over the summer, our investments in pawnbroking, jewellery retail and the store estate have delivered positive results and helped to underpin an overall first half performance in line with the board's expectations."

There was a 3% decline in the amount of currency exchanged due to the aforementioned trend for ‘staycations’ and income dropped by 2%, but the currency business saw a 44% increase in commissions from international bank-to-bank payments.

"We have momentum to take us into the seasonally important Christmas period for jewellery retail and, underpinned by the strength of our business model and brand, the board remains confident of delivering further progress on its strategic objectives and achieving its expectations for the year," said Kenyon.

Ramsdens’ shares were down 5.59% at 152.00p at 1113 GMT.