Turnover at employee-owned furniture and floorcovering co-operative AHF grew by 22% to £23.7m in the year to 31st March 2016 thanks to a combination of LfL sales growth and new store openings, the retailer reports.
EBITDA remained broadly unchanged at £0.4m (from £0.44m in 2015), while year-end cash holdings were £2.3m (up from £1.8m in 2015) – £0.4m of the operating cashflow was used to fund the opening of new stores in Hayes and Thurrock.
An overall loss of £292,540 (up from £56,535 in 2015) is attributed by MD Matt Heskith to costs incurred through depreciation and refurbishments, while strong comparatives were set by concluding store contracts from Central England Co-Operative in the previous year – a conclusion of the split of the business from the co-op in 2011 which formed AHF as an independent employee-run co-operative.
At year end, the business operated from 13 out-of-town stores and five concessions, having opened in Northampton and Hayes in the year and closed an underperforming concession in Scunthorpe. Post year-end, the business has opened a further out-of-town store in Thurrock.
Whilst turnover growth has been improved by the new stores to the tune of £3m, the key driver of profitability has been the LfL growth of 7%, which was achieved without expenditure on marketing.
“We are continuing to invest in our back office and store infrastructure to provide sound foundations for our future ,” explains Matt. ‘We’ve opened 13 new stores in the last five years, and the newest openings, coupled with investment and associated depreciation, hampers profitability in the short-term, but sets the business up well for the future.”
Matt is confident that the future is bright for AHF. “We’ll definitely turnover £27m by next year’s report,” he says, “buoyed by the opening of two more stores, one of which has been confirmed for Rotherham.”
