Angling Direct has reported a “robust” first half of the year and said it was confident of achieving a 25 per cent increase in UK revenue to £100m in the medium term.
The Norwich-based specialist fishing tackle and equipment retailer reported UK growth of 5.9 per cent in the six months ended 31 July 2024.
Total UK sales rose by 6.2 per cent in the half, with retail store sales in particular up by 8.4 per cent versus 2.8 per cent growth in online sales.
The firm has added five more stores to its portfolio this year, with new sites in Cannock and Newark plus acquisitions in Crewe, Walsall and Shrewsbury. This brought the company total to 52 stores across England and Wales.
Steve Crowe, chief executive of Angling Direct, said: “The progress made on expanding our UK footprint, alongside the roll out of our customer loyalty club, MyAD, and the associated growth of revenues in our existing UK stores and digital platforms, provides further confidence in achieving our medium-term UK revenue target of £100m.
“In the UK, we have leveraged our balance sheet strength to accelerate our new store roll out programme. In Europe, we are pleased to note the opening of our first store in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in May which continues to scale footfall and revenues.”
The group said that the digital European market remained “challenging” and that the business continued to focus on the “key markets” of Germany and the Netherlands.
“We remain focused on delivering on our medium-term objectives as announced in the Final Results on 14 May 2024,” Crowe said.
“During [the half] we executed further strategic and operational changes to deliver upon these and will provide further detail on this progress at the interim results on 8 October.”
Since early 2021, its share price has been steadily declining, with the company’s stock down more than 45 per cent in the last five years.