The Works upgraded its profit guidance for the second time this year after racking up near-10% like-for-like sales growth against a backdrop of a UK retail market under pressure.
The value retailer would have been forgiven for mediocre growth given the current environment but said total sales from continuing operations rose 10.1% to £128.8m in the 26 weeks to 1 November, with like-for-like sales up 9.8% – and that growth came on top of a solid 4% a year earlier, rather than flattering a weak comparison.
The company made. a comparison to the wider non-food retail market, which it said shrank 1% over the period.
Product margin held at 62.7%, and tighter stock management helped swing the balance sheet from £5.3m of net debt a year ago to £3.5m of net cash.
All in all, great numbers from the Works.
On the back of the first half, the board now expects full-year pre-IFRS 16 adjusted EBITDA of at least £17.0m, ahead of market expectations and more than 13% higher than it guided at the start of the year.
Gavin Peck, Chief Executive Officer of The Works, said: “We are delighted to report a strong H1 performance with like for like sales growth of 9.8%, driven by strong customer demand across all our key categories. We also delivered strong performances during the Back to School and Halloween trading periods.”
The Works shares have ticked steadily higher into today’s numbers, which go a long way to justifying the rally.