Merseyside-based gifting firm Appreciate Group has announced it will reinstate the dividend for shareholders and is well placed ahead of Christmas - despite seeing a decline in revenues and billings.
In its half-year results released today for the six months to September 30, the group said revenues reduced by 17.6% to £27.4m, while billings dropped 17.8% to £98.8m - recovering from a 64% reduction in April's lockdown.
However the group said it had made "significant progress" in its "critical" Q3 trading period, with the last two months of the calendar year traditionally the busiest for the corporate business.
Early signs for November are that the growth seen so far this year is set to continue as companies seek alternatives to staff Christmas parties by offering staff vouchers instead, Appreciate said.
From Park to Appreciate: A firm steeped in Mersey lore
In the late 1960s, Peter Johnson, a butcher’s son who later became chairman of Everton FC, founded a Christmas savings club by branching out the family business, which would go on to become Park Group.
He went about building a network of agents around the North West that soon went national.
It was centred around the idea that people could put money aside to afford meat for Christmas, which led to other goods and the concept of Christmas hampers.
Customers would go into a branch of the network of butchers with a voucher or letter detailing their credit.
Other retailers soon heard about the initiative and asked for their name to be put on the letters too.
That was at the same time as increasing hamper sales, which eventually grew to 1m units being shipped out of Birkenhead, making Mr Johnson one of the 海角视频’s richest people.
Now, Appreciate works with around 400,000 families saving for Christmas, also dealing with over 30,000 corporate entities. It’s also home to gifting and rewards products including Love2shop and Park Christmas Savings - now vital parts of the business.
It added that lockdown measures imposed in November were having "far less impact" than earlier in the year "following the evolution of the business".
The dividend for shareholders has been reinstated, paying 0.4p per share - down from last year's 1.05p.
Ian O'Doherty, CEO of Appreciate Group plc, said: "I am pleased that trading during our critical Q3 trading period is progressing well with Christmas savings orders now fully completed, and that we are in a position to reinstate the dividend for shareholders.
Most Read
"The decisive actions we took to intensify the focus on digital and accelerate parts of our strategy have led to a steady recovery and now improvement in performance, following the initial shock when lockdown measures were first introduced in March.
"The first two months of the second half have seen us trade closer to 2019 levels, with a continued recovery expected to enable the significant swing in profitability the Group typically sees in its important second half trading period.
"The repositioning of the business will ensure it is more resilient during the current November lockdown, whilst putting us in the strongest competitive position to deliver growth when life returns to normal."
In the statement released on Tuesday, the firm also said it intends to repay £300,000 furlough money after it "prudently utilised the scheme given the high level of uncertainty at the outset of the crisis".