Key facts

Leading specialist retailer in the large and robust UK greetings card market: with the value of the singles card market growing and card sending “ingrained” in the UK culture (c. 30 cards sent per adult per annum in the UK)

Approximately one third of our sales are from gift dressings, small gifts and party products, a market estimated to be worth £1-2bn

Operate from over 700 stores across the UK: c50+ stores a year opened over the past 10 years

16 years of unbroken revenue growth: sales of £327m in year to 31 January 2014

Value retailer, with high quality products at affordable prices: majority of cards sold for less than £1

c.6,500 employees in the UK (plus up to 6,000 additional seasonal staff)

Over £2.8m raised for Macmillan Cancer Support

Headquartered in Wakefield, West Yorkshire

Company Website

Financial Calendar

Recent Broker notes

BarChart Indicators

Recent Market news

Card factory's Fundamentals (CARD)

Artemis add http://http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5824878

Card factory said Tuesday profit before tax fell 12.3% to £72.6m in the year ending 31 January, despite reporting a 2.9% increase in like-for-like sales.

Pre-tax profit was weighed by cost headwinds totalling £14.6m for the year, driven by the combined impact of foreign exchange and national living wage.

The firm reported that revenue rose 6% to £422.1m from £398.2m despite a 'tough consumer environment' as High Street footfall declined.

The final dividend per share increased by 1.6% to 6.4p, from 6.3p the previous year. While, a special dividend is expected to be declared with the release of half year results in the range of 5p to 10p per ordinary share.

Card factory continued to expand its store portfolio, opening 50 new stores in the period, bringing its total UK estate to 915. While, six trial stores were opened in the Republic of Ireland.

The firm warned, however, that EBITDA growth in 2019 will be limited amid continuing headwinds.

Karen Hubbard, Chief Executive Officer, said: 'We delivered strong like-for-like sales growth in a tough trading environment. We sold more cards than the prior year, and delivered a higher average card selling price and total basket size.'

'We also saw a record breaking number of customers shopping with Card Factory for both card and complementary non-card products, demonstrating our resilience against a backdrop of High Street footfall decline. Our store roll-out programme continues, with 50 new UK sites opened in the year, and our Card Factory online business has seen further growth, with increased visitors and sales, and represents a clear opportunity for future growth.'

Some hefty rises since results, large gap to fill. On watch list could go either way close to a breakout.

From yesterday.

Trading update

Card Factory, the UK's leading specialist retailer of greeting cards, dressings and gifts, announces the following trading update for the six months ended 31 July 2018.

Key highlights

· Total group sales growth of +3.2% (H1 FY18: +6.1%)

· Card Factory like-for-like sales -0.2% (H1 FY18: +3.1%), due to weak consumer environment and extreme weather conditions

· Strong seasonal performance continued in Q2 FY19 with a record Father's Day season

· Further expansion of our store network with 25 net new UK stores opened (H1 FY18: 30) - on track for target of c.50 openings for the full year

· Continued momentum in the Republic of Ireland with seven trial stores now open

· Getting Personal sales -8.5% (H1 FY18: +5.0%) in a highly price competitive market

· Continued strong cash generation with net debt comfortably within our policy range

· Expect a return of surplus cash towards the end of FY19 in the range of 5-10p per ordinary share

· Due to the weather impact and continuing uncertainty around the UK consumer environment, the Board expects underlying FY19 EBITDA within the range of £89m - £91m, dependent on the key Q4 trading period

Recent trading performance

During the first half, we delivered strong sales performances in our seasonal ranges, including a record Father's Day for the Group in both volume and value terms. However, with extreme weather conditions impacting high street footfall and continued consumer caution across the UK, like-for-like sales for the Card Factory store network fell by -0.7% (H1 FY18: +3.0%), with a marginal improvement in Q2.

We have continued to expand and improve the range of card and non-card products available on our websites, both personalised and non-personalised, as we target a significant increase in our share of this attractive segment of the market. Including the strong growth delivered by the Card Factory website, with year-on-year growth in traffic, conversion and average order value, like-for-like sales performance of the Card Factory fascia was -0.2% (H1 FY18: +3.1%).

In the first half we opened 25 net new UK stores (H1 FY18: 30) bringing the total UK estate to 940 stores. We remain on track to deliver approximately 50 net new UK stores in the current financial year including a number of retail park stores, which continue to perform well.

We also opened one new store in the Republic of Ireland, meaning we now have a total of seven trial stores in the region. We continue to monitor performance and evolve our proposition as brand awareness improves.

We remain on track with our plan to deliver identified business efficiencies to offset a proportion of the cost pressures arising from wage inflation and other factors.

Trading performance at Getting Personal remains challenging, with increased price competition and rising costs of customer acquisition impacting the business.

Cash returns to shareholders

The Group remains highly cash generative, despite the tough trading environment, driven by our strong operating margins, limited working capital absorption and relatively low capital expenditure requirements.

As at 31 July 2018, before deducting capitalised debt costs, net debt totalled £159.8 million (31 July 2017: £146.0 million, 31 January 2018: £161.3 million), reflecting strong operating cash generation during the period, more than covering payment of the FY18 final dividend (£21.9 million).

It remains the Board's policy to return surplus cash to shareholders. No change is made to the guidance given in the preliminary announcement for FY18, with a further return of surplus cash expected to be made towards the end of the FY19 financial year in the range of 5-10p per ordinary share. We will provide confirmation as to the quantum and timing of the next distribution at the time of our interim results announcement for the six months ended 31 July 2018, due for release on Tuesday 25 September 2018.



Karen Hubbard, Card Factory's Chief Executive Officer, said:

"We continue to experience a weak consumer environment, made all the more challenging by the impact of this year's extreme weather conditions on high street footfall.



"The performance of our seasonal ranges has been strong, with our best ever Father's Day in terms of volume and value, although we recognise there has to be more focus on our Everyday ranges, which have lagged the seasonal performance.



"Taking into account the above, the Board's current expectation is that EBITDA for the year will be in the range of £89m to £91m. Our key Q4 trading period will of course be critical in determining the final result for the year, but we believe we are well positioned to deliver a good performance in our important Christmas trading season."



ENDS

I am biased. I hold some.

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Can this special divi survive retail chill?
by Graeme Evans from interactive investor | 9th August 2018 12:12
Income stock Card Factory is feeling the trading heat, but will its promise of special dividend later this year survive? Graeme Evans takes a look.

Despite another Card Factory profits warning, the mood among the company's income chasing followers may well be relief that things are not a lot worse.
That’s because Card Factory's promise to pay shareholders a special dividend of between 5p and 10p later in this financial year is still in place, helped by continued strong levels of cash generation. There are also pockets of trading encouragement, not least a decent performance around Father's Day.
Shares still fell 10%, however, to leave the stock some distance from the 225p seen at its May 2014 IPO and the 347p achieved less than year ago.
Liberum thinks the shares are now worth about 195p, having downgraded its target price from 210p in the wake of today's warning - the third time the company has issued an alert on profits in the space of a year.
The broker has cut its earnings per share forecasts by 7% for 2019 through to 2021, continuing a cycle of downgrades. A year ago Liberum was looking for 2019 earnings of £103.9 million, but this is now down 15% to £88.2 million.
That's slightly below the company's new guidance of between £89 million and £91 million, which is still dependent on the key Christmas trading period.
Liberum also suggests that for ever 1% decrease in sales, about £2.5 million of the dividend will need to be paid out of debt.
Card Factory said today net debt at the end of July reduced slightly to £159.8 million, with strong operating cash generation more than covering the payment of the 2018 final dividend of £21.9 million.
Liberum currently forecasts a special dividend of 7.5p and a 2019 yield of 8.3%, but warns that the award could still end up being towards the lower end of the 5p-10p range in the event there’s a further deterioration in earnings.
Card Factory blamed extreme weather conditions and weak consumer confidence for its 0.2% decline in like-for-like sales in the six months to the end of July. Sales at its online business Getting Personal were down by 8.5% due to heavy discounting by rivals.
Despite the uncertain conditions, the company still opened a net 25 new stores in the first half, bringing its total estate to 940. It continues to work towards the addition of 50 sites in this financial year, including a number of retail park stores.
At a time when most other chains are closing outlets, Card Factory has said it hopes to have a "cost-effective estate" of around 1,200 shops.
It also differs from the rest as the only vertically integrated player in its sector. Having an in-house design team, printing facility and central warehousing capacity allows the company to operate with significantly reduced costs compared with rivals.
Fund manager Neil Woodford has been a fan of the company, describing it as a "well-managed, highly competitive and cash generative retailer".
However, today's latest profits warning will increase the pressure on chief executive Karen Hubbard, who has been in the role since February 2016.
She said today:
"Our key Q4 trading period will be critical in determining the final result for the year, but we believe we are well positioned to deliver a good performance in our important Christmas trading season."
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DYOH.

imo, this was always a bad call as a company, for all the obvious reasons

cynic - 12 Dec 2014 16:47 - 7 of 63
loads of card shops fold every year - eg clintons and now lorimers (which may just local to here) - as it's low value (avr below £1.00 here) albeit high profit margin, with main sales being very seasonal

fewer and fewer cards are now being sold - ask your local postie
in addition, there's the advent of on-line cards like moonpig and a number of others


finally ....
Massive queue of people. Waited 10 mins.
customers will not tolerate this for long


personally, i think this is one to avoid

Half Year report http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=6140334

Teleios Capital Partners LLC make a 5% entry.

Trading statement https://www.moneyam.com/action/nav/news?epic=CARD

Trading Statement Thursday 10th.

if you look back perhaps as little as a decade, families used to receive and send dozens of christmas and other occasion cards

this has now reduced to a dribble and falling, so why would one buy into this company?

Trading statement https://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=6272183

Norges Bank add https://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=6280823