Strong UK store sales help Angling Direct deliver robust first half performance

The UK’s largest fishing tackle retail chain saw its store sales increase 8.4% as it delivered a ‘robust’ performance in the first half of its financial year.

Angling Direct, which has 52 stores in England and Wales, saw UK revenue increase 6.2% from £40.9m to £43.5m, which included a rise in online sales of 2.8% to £17m (£16.5m).

On a group-wide basis, total revenue increased 5.6% to £45.8m (£43.3m).

European revenue remained static at £2.4m. It added that the digital market in the region remains ‘challenging’ with the group continuing its focus on the key markets of Germany and the Netherlands with the primary focus on balancing loss reduction and building a sustainable business in the region.

Steve Crowe, Angling Direct CEO, told investors: “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 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 with the opening of two new stores and acquisition of three businesses, increasing our UK customer reach. In Europe, we are pleased to note the opening of our first store in Europe in Utrecht which continues to scale footfall and revenues.”