Hornby shares fell on Wednesday after the group revealed a trading statement for the Christmas period.
Group sales for the third quarter were up compared to the same period a year ago driven by a hugely popular product range and increased global demand as consumers spend more time at home.
Tighter Covid restrictions and the impact of courier companies pausing collections bound for Europe due to Brexit backlogs have led to a slower start to 202, however, shipping to Europe will soon start.
Direct sales are up 133% year on year and net cash at the end of December 2020 was £3.8m compared to net cash £3.9m at the end of September 2020.
Commenting on their new toy range for 2021, the group said: “We would normally be attending several Toy Fairs during January but these have been cancelled due to COVID restrictions. As such we have digitally previewed our latest range announcements which have been released to the trade and the public through various social media platforms. The feedback was encouraging, and we were buoyed by the levels of interest.”
Hornby expects to finish the year with sales 15-20% ahead of the prior year.
Chief Executive Officer, Lyndon Davies commented: “No one expected the last year to turn out as it did. It is hard, however, not to want to spread a little ‘good news’ amongst all the bad. The transformation at Hornby continues to accelerate, this is not time for braking, we must now accelerate upwards through the gears.”
