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)

Interim Management Statement

Key highlights

· Ongoing positive growth in like-for-like sales from existing store estate
· Continued new store roll out with 29 net new stores opened
· Strong pipeline of future new store opportunities
· Appointment of Geoff Cooper (Non-Executive Chairman), Octavia Morley (Senior
Independent Non-Executive Director) and David Stead (Independent Non-Executive Director)
· Admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange
· Completion of senior debt refinancing, significantly reducing annual interest cost


Recent trading performance

The Group continues to trade in line with the Board's expectations.

In the period under review, the Group has continued to grow like-for-like sales and expand its retail estate from its established new store roll out programme.

In the first four months of the current financial year, 29 net new stores have been opened, bringing the total estate to 742 stores as at 31 May 2014. The Group has a strong pipeline of additional new store opportunities and remains confident of opening a total of approximately 50 net new stores in the current financial year in line with historic opening rates.

As described in its IPO prospectus dated 15 May 2014 (the "Prospectus"), the Group has opened an average of over 50 new stores per year over the past 10 years and intends to continue to expand its store portfolio organically to up to 1,200 stores in total over the next 10 years, including up to 100 potential new stores in the Republic of Ireland.

Completion of senior debt refinancing

As announced on 2 June 2014, the Company also completed the refinancing of its existing senior bank facilities.

As set out in the Prospectus, the new senior bank facilities (used in part for the refinancing) include a £180 million term loan facility and a £20 million revolving facility (both with a 5 year maturity).

As previously announced, taking into account the IPO proceeds and transaction costs, the Group had net debt on 20 May 2014, the date that the Group's shares were admitted to listing, of approximately £160 million, representing approximately 2.0x underlying EBITDA for the year ended 31 January 2014. The financial position of the Group has not changed materially since.

Analyst visit

Card Factory is hosting a site visit for analysts today, including a tour of the Group's design studio and printing operation, a visit to local stores and a presentation from senior management. No new material financial or other information will be provided during the visit.

Interim results

The Group will announce its interim results for the 6 months ended 31 July 2014 in September.

Richard Hayes, Card Factory's Chief Executive Officer, said:

"We have had a positive start to our current financial year, further developing our distinctive value proposition and continuing to deliver on our clear growth strategy. The Board remains confident of the Group's ability to further grow market share for the foreseeable future."



ENDS

Investec Buy 208.50 204.50 - 245.00 Initiates/Starts

One to watch for chrismas

Canaccord Genuity Buy 244.05 242.10 - 270.00 Initiates/Starts

CARD... Card Factory, last results very solid hitting new highs. Could be a good xmas for this one. Tills are roaring ive just heard on twitter.

Here we are.........

Traders Own ‏@TradersOwn 14 minutes ago
@-------- A member of staff went into the #CardFactory last weekend. Massive queue of people. Waited 10 mins. The tills are ringing!

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

19 Dec 2014 Card Factory Plc... CARD Investec Buy 269.10 271.60 270.00 310.00 Reiterates

SP TARGET 310p

From yesterday : Trading Statement

Card Factory, the UK's leading specialist retailer of greeting cards, gifts and dressings, is pleased to announce its trading update covering the period from 1 February 2014 to date. Operational and financial information relates to the 11 months ended 31 December 2014 unless stated otherwise.

The Group continues to trade in line with the Board's expectations.

The Group remains highly cash generative. The Board expects to report a significant reduction in net debt at the year end to a level lower than the current range of market expectations (see Note 3 below).

In the 11 months ended 31 December 2014, revenue increased by 8.1%, driven by a combination of like-for-like sales growth, new store roll out and further growth in our online business, Getting Personal. This growth rate is similar to that delivered in the 11 months ended 31 December 2013 (8.9%).

Delivering on our four pillars of growth

1. Like-for-like sales growth in existing stores

Card Factory's like-for-like store sales grew by +1.8% during the period despite a strong comparable period last year when like-for-like sales grew by +3.1% (see Note 2 below).

The like-for-like performance since the half year reflects, in part, investment in localised pricing strategies adopted during the year, particularly in the final quarter. We will continue to adopt this approach to strongly defend our market leading position, whilst maintaining our focus on delivering best-in-class margins.

2. Continuing new store roll out

A total of 51 net new stores have been opened in the year to date, bringing the total estate to 764 stores as at 31 December 2014.

Looking ahead to our next financial year ending 31 January 2016, the Group has a strong pipeline of additional new store opportunities and we remain confident of continuing our historic opening rate of approximately 50 net new stores per annum.

3. Delivering business efficiencies

The Group has consistently delivered extremely strong margins by leveraging its vertically integrated model which has been established and developed over many years. The Board continues to balance the driving of economies of scale and business efficiencies with ongoing investment in the business in anticipation of future growth.

A key focus for this investment has been the continued roll out of our new EPOS system which is now installed in over 50% of the store estate. As disclosed previously, the Board anticipates a number of business efficiencies will flow from this system over the medium term.

4. Development of complementary online sales channel

The Group, as a relatively new entrant, continues to grow its online division rapidly, with continued double digit revenue growth achieved through Getting Personal since the half year stage.

As previously announced, Paul McCrudden, EMEA Head of Content Marketing at Twitter, has joined the Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director. Paul brings a wealth of digital and marketing experience that will be particularly helpful as we continue to develop our online activities.

Preliminary results announcement

The Group will announce its preliminary results for the year ending 31 January 2015 on 25 March 2015.

Card Factory eyes Paperchase purchase

Discount card retailer is said to be keen to get its hands on its upmarket rival's books


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11368532/Card-Factory-eyes-Paperchase-purchase.html

Ex-dividend 30th April 6.8p.

Trading Statement

Key highlights

· Board's expectations for the full financial year unchanged
· Like-for-like store sales growth within management target range
· Continued store roll out with 19 net new stores opened
· Strong pipeline of new store opportunities for the remainder of the financial year
· Relaunch of Card Factory transactional website (www.cardfactory.co.uk)
· Further strong revenue growth from Getting Personal (www.gettingpersonal.co.uk)
· Strong cash generation with further reduction in net debt
· Planned return of surplus cash towards end of current financial year

more....

Trading Update

Card Factory, the UK's leading specialist retailer of greeting cards, dressings and gifts, is pleased to announce a trading update for the six months ended 31 July 2015.

Key highlights

· Total sales growth of +8.0% (H1 FY15: +8.9%)
· Like-for-like store sales growth of +2.7% (H1 FY15: +2.6%)
· Continued store roll out with 36 net new stores opened (H1 FY15: 36)
· 800th store opened during the period
· Confident of delivering another year of approximately 50 net new openings
· Further strong revenue growth from Getting Personal (www.gettingpersonal.co.uk)
· Relaunch of Card Factory transactional website (www.cardfactory.co.uk)
· Planned return of surplus cash towards end of current financial year
· Board's expectations for the full financial year unchanged

Recent trading performance

The Group has continued to trade in line with the Board's expectations.

more....

ShareCast News) - Broker Peel Hunt reiterated its 'buy' recommendation for Card Factory, saying the retailer was one of its top picks for the sector, especially as it was "all systems go" for the upcoming special dividend.
First-half results from the FTSE 250 group indicated a 1% acceleration in the second-quarter pace of growth to 8% like-for-like sales.

There were a few more store closures in Q2 "but the fact is that underlying LFL has picked up here", Peel Hunt said, which implied further market share gain.

"The impact of WH Smith's Card Market has clearly been negligible and has not destabilised the overall market, and it is surely time for a strategic change of direction - and probably store closures - at Clintons."

The broker also expects that, net, there will be less competition this time next year than there are now, indicating that the barriers to entry from the vertical integration are working.

But the main focus was the cash return that management has pledged, with news expected of a "material cash distribution " with the interim results on 22 September.

'Cash Factory', as the broker calls the company, is extremely cash generative, with new stores paying back in less than a year and the business model requiring limited underlying capex and working capital investments.

"Management has been very clear that it will return any excess cash to shareholders and we think that this means a return of between £220m and £335m over the next three years."

Ex dividend tomorrow - 17.5p.

Trading Statement Thursday 26th

StockMarketWire.com

Card Factory expects full-year underlying pre-tax profits will be slightly ahead of market consensus after a good Christmas trading period and against a strong comparative.

The group said this was driven by a combination of like-for-like sales growth and new store roll out.

Year-to-date like-for-like store sales growth improved to 0.4% (11 months ended 31 December 2015: +2.8%).

Against a strong prior year comparative, Card Factory stores delivered a good Christmas trading performance with cumulative like-for-likes for the fourth quarter of the financial year returning to the historic range of 1% to 3%.

A trading update said: "cardfactory.co.uk, ourtransactional site, continues to grow from a low base.

"Including sales from cardfactory.co.uk, total Card Factory year-to-date like-for-like sales grew by 0.5% (11 months ended 31 December 2015: +3.0%)."

Card Factory said the board was confident of delivering full year underlying profit before tax for the current financial year slightly ahead of analyst consensus.

What was the big drop in September for?

CARD FACTORY PLC (CARD.LN) declared a 15-pence-a-share special dividend, despite reporting a 14% fall in pretax profit for the first half of fiscal 2018, citing high cash generation.

Shares down 55.8 pence, or 15.72%, at 299.20 pence.

I suspect the highlighted bits below:

StockMarketWire.com
Card Factory saw strong revenue growth in the first half and has declared a special dividend while investing for the future.

Revenues for the six months to the end of July rose by 6.1% to £179.6m - up 6.7% on an equivalent number of trading days - with like-for-like sales up 3.1%.

Underlying EBITDA fell by 4% to £32.8m and operating profits were down 13.9% at £24.6m.

The group declared an interim dividend of 2.9p per share - up 3.6% - and special dividend of 15p per share, return of £51.2m to shareholders.

Chief executive Karen Hubbard said: 'We have delivered a solid set of interim results with strong growth in like-for-like sales and total revenue, despite the decline in footfall seen across the high street; however, profitability over the half year was impacted by foreign exchange, national living wage and some of the important investments we are making in the business for longer term growth.

'Our business model remains highly cash generative and we are pleased to be announcing another special dividend of 15 pence per share.

'Together with the interim dividend, this means we will have returned £246.5m to shareholders since IPO in May 2014.

Thanks chaps, seems reasonable.