Hornby PLC Trading Statement (1576M)

TIDMHRN

RNS Number : 1576M

Hornby PLC

10 January 2023

Hornby Plc ("Hornby" or "the Group")

Trading Update

Hornby Plc, the international models and collectibles Group, is today updating shareholders on trading for the period from 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022.

Business Performance

Group sales for the third quarter covering the key Christmas trading period were ahead of the same period last year. As a result, cumulative group sales for the financial year to date are ahead of last year by 6%. This has been driven by better availability of stock, price increases, and investment in e-commerce platforms and digital media. However, these sales figures are behind budget due to the challenging consumer economic climate and will impact our full year figures. Order book remains strong ahead of our 2023 product range releases.

Our direct to consumer sales continue to increase and are 44% ahead of the same period last year.

Financial Position

Net debt at the end of December 2022 was GBP7.6 million compared to net debt GBP4.9 million at the end of September 2022. The Group retains a strong funding position with significant liquidity headroom available against its existing facilities

Outlook

We remain cautious in our outlook for the full year and beyond due to a high level of uncertainty around the impact of several factors on our sales such as inflation and mortgage costs for consumers but with employment expected to remain high we are hopeful that the confidence in consumer spending remains.

We are excited about the Group's 2023 product range which launches today. In particular the Group is launching this month a new control system for trains utilising Bluetooth(R) technology to connect to phones or tablets, which will replace traditional systems in the market.

Our current forecast to year end March 2022 is a modest underlying loss before tax.

Executive Chairman, Lyndon Davies commented:

"Sales at Hornby continue to grow with a stream of new products in the pipeline. We look forward to the continued growth in direct relationships with our customers."

Hornby will announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2023 in June.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as amended by The Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

-ends-

Enquiries:

Hornby plc

   Lyndon Davies, Exec Chairman                                      01843 233 500 

Kirstie Gould, CFO

Liberum Capital Limited, Nominated Advisor and Broker

   Andrew Godber                                                                   020 3100 2222 

Edward Thomas

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.

END

TSTMZGGMRLNGFZM

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 10, 2023 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)