Furniture Village today released details of a strong trading year (ended March 2016), with sales, profit and cash up substantially, together with a clear plan for future growth.
Order intake grew by 12.4% to £265m including VAT, with LFL 10% up on the prior year, reflecting growth in both the existing store base and online. This performance helped underlying trading EBITDA grow to £9.6m – an uplift of £1.1m on the prior year.
Cash increased from £12.9m to £20.1m, even after significant capital investment of around £7m, and the business remains bank debt-free.
The planned expansion strategy is firmly on course at Furniture Village, with three new stores opened in the year at Enfield, Northampton and Stevenage. Seven more stores are planned for this year, with a new store in Preston already opened, taking Furniture Village to a total of 50, in addition to a new, greatly-improved web platform which launched in June.
Further growth is set to be supported by unprecedented levels of investment in infrastructure including an enhanced distribution network and a new, fully-integrated ERP solution, being developed ready for launch next year.
Peter Harrison, CEO of Furniture Village, says: “We strive to do both different and better things to stand out in our market and it’s pleasing to see our hard work translating into such positive results. Simply put, our overriding philosophy is to 'do it properly' and it’s evident that consumers 'like what we do and they like how we do it!'
"As we expand and benefit from efficiencies in scale we will stay focused on reinvesting in our business to ensure we deliver a strong, sensible and sustainable rate of growth.
"Without doubt our greatest point of difference remains our people and I would like to thank each and every one of them for their drive, their passion and their commitment in helping to deliver these results.
"Potential threats posed to business by 'consumer uncertainty' and 'rising inflation' emanating from the decision to leave the EU cannot be ignored. We will however be taking whatever actions are necessary to ensure that we successfully navigate through expected turbulence and remain on a course of profitable growth.”
