North East furniture retailer ScS is considering opening new stores after hailing a strong year of recovery with revenues rocketing 21.6% to top 拢310m.
The Sunderland soft furnishings and flooring specialist is now pushing for further growth, after publishing results for the 53 weeks ended July 31 2021, with operating profit soaring from 拢700,000 to 拢26.8m, and pre-tax profit rising from a loss of 拢3.1m to profit of 拢22.7m, on revenues of 拢310.6m.
Trading from 100 stores, the group鈥檚 like-for-like order intake was down only 1.5% on last year and 6.5% down on 2019, despite being closed for 17 weeks this year, compared with nine weeks last 2020.
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Meanwhile, online sales jumped 146% to 拢46.9m, following continued investment in its online business and an increase in online shopping during the periods of store closures.
Its closing order book was 拢103.5m 鈥 拢1.2m lower than 2020 but 拢60.6m higher than at the same point in 2019.
One year like-for-like orders fell 21% but they came up against strong comparatives, as a result of the significant bounce following last year鈥檚 lockdown.
Its strong position led to the repayment of the 拢3 furlough grants claimed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme during the year, following the successful reopening of the group鈥檚 stores.
Looking ahead, the firm said it is positive about prospects for the full year, but that it remains mindful of the ongoing supply chain disruption and cost inflation.
As the firm unveiled full year results, CEO Steve Carson, who took on the job this summer, revealed a three-year growth strategy which he said all employees have been involved in creating.
The strategy will involve everything from investment in its showrooms and digital offering to strengthening its teams, focusing on its customers plus expanding its ranges and bringing new brands on board, such as last week鈥檚 launch of the new LLB range in collaboration with interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.
New stores could be on the horizon, and the company is also considering relocating some stores which are in less profitable locations.
Mr Carson said: 鈥淲hat a year to join a business. We were closed for a third of the year and it鈥檚 been a real team effort. Our colleagues have been wonderful as have our suppliers, the landlords and third parties. We鈥檙e really pleased with such a strong set of results.
鈥淥ur stores are the backbone of the business. We鈥檝e got 100 stores up and down the country and we鈥檙e going to be looking at what is the right number of stores and should we add some more stores. There are a number of populations of more 100,000 where we don鈥檛 have a store, so we鈥檙e going to step into that carefully and thoughtfully and see if there鈥檚 an opportunity to add to the estate.
鈥淜nowing you want to be in a location and getting the right store, store size, on the right retail park, at the right rent with the right team to deliver an appropriate ROI, there鈥檚 a lot to get right on that journey. Right now this is just something we鈥檙e going to properly look at but I know there鈥檚 opportunities still in our heartland and we鈥檙e under penetrated in the South of England and we have no stores in Northern Ireland.
I don鈥檛 know what the number will be, but I suspect the next time we speak we鈥檒l have a better understanding of what that number will look like.鈥
Mr Carson said the new financial year has started well, with two year like-for-like order intake growth of 11.9% for the first nine weeks of the year.
Supply chain issues mean lead times for orders are a little behind, with customers potentially having to wait a few extra weeks as their goods are made-to-order, but he said customers have been patient and prepared to wait.
He added: 鈥淲e are delighted with the strong orders performance since the start of the new financial year.
鈥淗owever, we are cognisant of the ongoing challenges we, and many other businesses, are facing with regards to the supply chain, including driver shortages, raw material increases and shipping costs and delays.
鈥淲e have demonstrated throughout the pandemic that we have a flexible and resilient business model which is able to adapt to changes in the macro-environment whilst still delivering for our customers.
鈥淲e look forward to embedding the new purpose and mission statement into our operations and delivering on our refreshed strategy for future growth which we are setting out today.鈥
Chairman Alan Smith thanked former CEO David Knight, who left the business after 33 years in July, and added: 鈥淚t has been more important than ever to support our local communities and I am delighted that we have continued to support them, providing 10,000 free school meals to underprivileged families in our founding city of Sunderland, supporting the ITV Bowel Cancer Awareness campaign, and continuing our support of the Foundation of Light and its programmes to tackle loneliness and social isolation.鈥
The board has proposed a final dividend of 7p which, if approved, would give a full-year dividend of 10p.
