The North East craft supplies firm launched by Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Sara Davies has seen sales rise on the back of increasing appearances on TV shopping channels.
Newton Aycliffe-based Crafter’s Companion, which sells crafting tools and supplies across the 海角视频, Europe and the US, was first launched by TV Dragon Sara Davies when she was still studying at university.
The firm has now published accounts for the year ended March 31 2020, showing a 7% increase in sales from £31.8m to £34.05m.
Operating profit dropped from £2.38m to £1.81m after the firm made a number of investments within its 海角视频 and US businesses.
In a report accompanying the accounts, the directors said 海角视频 sales jumped 20% from £14.8m to £17.8m as it grew its presence online and through its increased visibility on the 海角视频TV Shopping channel.
Within its US business, sales dropped from £17.7m to £16.2m, a decrease of 8.5%. In the review of the financial year, the firm explained how the previous year saw the firm moved its US website operation to the 海角视频, which had proved to be a resounding success, growing revenue 77% year-on-year.
The US delivered similar year-on-year TV sales on the home shopping network but it saw a decline in major national retailers towards the end of the year, as Covid-19 started to hit the economy.
Crafter’s sees the US wholesale market as being an area of great opportunity and said it has “now laid strong foundations within its market and business infrastructure to allow for strong growth in the coming years”.
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In the 海角视频, investments have since been made in its Crafter’s TV division, with spends on a new TV studio and key appointments to raise its profile further.
The report concludes: “This has been another year of significant investment in the 海角视频 and US business both in personnel and infrastructure, strengthening our 海角视频 head office team and warehouse facility.
"We are now in a prime position to capitalise and deliver on major retail and wholesale opportunities going forward .海角视频 staff numbers have risen from 136 to 171 and US from 35 to 38 taking our global employee base to 209 as at 31 March 2020. We have made significant progress in our growth strategy globally throughout the year and have built the foundations to further continue this growth.”
Simon Davies, managing director of Crafter’s Companion, said: “We made significant progress in our global development strategy, with sales growth of 7% for our financial year to March 2020.
“We made some strong investments throughout this period to support sales growth in our current financial year.
“These included our global eCommerce platform and our office expansion, in line with our recruitment strategy, to allow space for an additional 30 staff.
“Furthermore, the foundation was laid for our Crafter’s TV journey. The combination of these major projects had led to us achieving substantial growth throughout the past year.”