Three openings in two months increases Angling Direct store count to 57

The UK’s leading fishing tackle retailer, which reported a 17% increase in sales for the six months ended July 31, has continued its momentum at the start of its new financial year despite ‘softer’ consumer demand and a lack of summer rainfall.

Angling Direct this week confirmed a revenue increase to £53.6m for the first half of the year compared to £45.8m. And it has reported a group sales increase of 10.8% over August and September compared to the previous comparable period.

During the first two months of the new period, it has opened three new stores in Bradford, Stourport and Burnley to take its total UK store footprint to 57.

Steve Crowe, CEO of Angling Direct, said: “We are pleased to report that the momentum generated in FY25 has continued into the first half, with strong in-store and online sales providing confidence that the Group will deliver a FY26 trading performance ahead of market expectations.

“During the period, we made continued progress against our strategic objectives, with Group revenue increasing 17% to £53.6m and adjusted EBITDA increasing 39.4% to £3.9m. This performance has been underpinned by the success of our loyalty and repeat purchase membership club, MyAD, which increased 21% to over 496k subscribers, driving engagement with existing and new customers across our stores and online platforms.

“On behalf of the Board, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our employees, whose hard work and dedication have been central to our sustained success.

“Despite the challenging consumer backdrop, our ongoing investment in technology and the leveraging of unique customer insights has allowed us to attract new customers, complementing our ongoing UK store roll-out programme, which saw Angling Direct open a new catchment in Chester during the period, alongside locations in Bradford, Stourport, Burnley post period-end, bringing our UK store footprint to 57.

“Looking ahead, our performance to date has served to vindicate our strategy and we remain focused on executing against our strategic objectives. Our continued UK store roll-out strategy alongside the development of the UK digital business further extends our competitive moat.

“This provides the Board with confidence that the solid foundations that we have established will continue to position us well to take advantage of the growth opportunities available in the UK, at the same time enabling us to retain optionality over a presence in Europe which will significantly grow our addressable market and support our longer term growth ambitions.”