Kitchenware brand ProCook has reported “strong performance and continued momentum” during its peak trading period, as its revenue and market share both grew.
In a trading update for the 12 weeks ending January 9, 2022, the Gloucestershire business took £23.1m in revenue during the third quarter - a 34.6% rise on the same period a year earlier (YoY). Like-for-like total revenue stood at £18.6m - up 104.1% on a two-year basis.
In a breakdown of its sales mix, the family-run retailer, said its portfolio of more than 50 stores across the UK took £12.2m - up 124.3% YoY - which it said benefited from fewer Covid-19 restrictions on the sector.
ProCook opened two outlets at Westfield shopping centres in London during the period in the run-up to Christmas, but said it was not expecting to open any more stores for the remainder of the financial year.
The business said recent developments in the pandemic related to the Omicron variant had reduced retail footfall over recent weeks, though this had been partly offset by stronger online demand.
The firm said its ecommerce business generated £10.9m in revenue during the quarter - representing 47.2% of total sales - driven by its own website’s 11.3% YoY growth against “tough comparatives.”
Despite this overall online sales dipped by 7% in the period, which the company said reflected its strategic exit of the Amazon UK marketplace at the end of June 2021.
ProCook said it attracted 251,000 new customers (+70% YoY) and had outperformed the UK Kitchenware market by +38.5% points during the 12-week period.
ProCook said its gross margin of 65.5% was -370% basis points lower than the same period last year - in line with expectations - due to the impact of increased marine freight costs of approximately £0.8m incurred in the quarter, due to global supply chain challenges. It added that underlying product margins remained strong.
In its outlook the company said it was “well-stocked” and confident it could meet customer demand in the coming months, as it had invested in working capital to protect availability throughout the disruption.
The company’s board said it was anticipating that full-year performance would be in line with analysts expectations, including total revenue growth of +33.5% to £71.3m, and adjusted pre-tax profit of £10m - providing there was no further significant trading impact from Covid-19.
ProCook’s chief executive and founder Daniel O’Neill said: “We are pleased with our strong trading performance during our third quarter and peak trading period, despite the recent impact of the Omicron variant.
"This highlights the strength of our multi-channel offer and our direct-to-consumer business model. I would like to thank all of our team for their energy and dedication to continually improving our customer proposition."
ProCook completed a float on the London Stock Exchange last year, and has a current market capitalisation of approximately £165m.
This month the business announced a tree planting partnership with the Woodland Trust to mitigate its carbon emissions as its target becoming net-zero by 2030.
It recently signed a deal for a 168,000 sq ft warehouse at the St Modwen Gloucester business park, expanding on its two existing units across the county.
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