Upmarket furniture retailer Barker and Stonehouse has posted a 4.9% rise in sales against a backdrop of tough trading conditions on the 海角视频 High Street.
Latest accounts for the Stockton business, which cover the 12 months up to March 31, show revenues rose from 拢73.9m to 拢77.5m. Operating profit, however, fell from 拢3.4m to 拢2.526m.
The company鈥檚 staffing level rose slightly to 425 during the year.
CEO James Barker said: 鈥淚t has been a harder year for us, as it has been for all businesses. The political and economic uncertainty does affect consumer sentiment and also, because of that we have had difficulties with exchange rates because there is still a proportion of our products that trade in dollars.
鈥淟ike a lot of other trades, we like stability.鈥
Mr Barker said that the firm鈥檚 online business was growing, and expects to see a 15-20% yearly increase in online sales going forward.
But he said the company鈥檚 stores - of which there are currently 11, four of which are in the North East - complement the online offering.
He said: 鈥淥nline sales are growing every year. The website has become our biggest store, but you can鈥檛 have one without the othe and they compliment each other.
鈥淲e have people who go in store, then buy online later, or come into the stores to see and buy what they鈥檝e looked at online, and this omnichannel mix is how we want it. However, when customers want to buy it, you鈥檝e got to be there for them and do a good job.鈥
Over the course of the financial year Mr Barker said its latest store, in the Surrey town of Guildford, had 鈥渂edded in well鈥 and that a significant sum had been spent on IT and technology systems, including spending a lot on the creation of a new website and platform due to be released next year.
He also thanked the company's staff, adding: 鈥淎s always it鈥檚 down to the hardworking staff. It鈥檚 not easy at the moment but they have all done a great job, and that鈥檚 true of any time.鈥
Barker and Stonehouse was founded in Stockton in 1946 and has been run solely by the Barker family - now in its third generation - since the 1970s.
As well as its North East heartland, it has a number of stores across Yorkshire, and in London and the South East.
