Why invest in us
1. Opportunity for future growth
Card Factory PLC is now growing within the celebration occasions market, combining our greeting cards offer with our growing gifts and celebration essentials ranges. We are now addressing a £13.4 billion market in the UK with further growth opportunities internationally through our franchise and wholesale partners.
2. Virtuous circle of design, manufacturing and retail provides competitive advantage
We design 80% of our cards and 75% of our gifts in-house through our team of 80 creative designers, verse writers and creative management. This allows us to rapidly respond to changes in customer taste and needs.
Last year we manufactured 198 million of our cards and other products in Baildon, Yorkshire.
We have more than 1,900 distribution points for retail, including our online sales via our website cardfactory.co.uk, and in cardfactory retail stores.
3. Established brand - making celebrating life's moments accessible for all
cardfactory is the most trusted brand in the UK amongst competitors and our brand is anchored in the core truth that life needs celebration and our brand purpose: ‘we make sharing in and celebrating life’s moments special and accessible for everyone’. At the same time, we have made enormous headway on improving our gifts and celebration essentials offer, which is the biggest growth area. As a result, we are ranked at No. 1 for ‘good value’ and ranked the No. 1 destination for balloons.
4. Growing sales and profit
+7.6%
cardfactory’s LFL revenue grew +7.6%, driven by a strong store performance, with growth
in card, gifts and celebration essentials, combined with positive traction in online. This led to a PBT growth of £13.2 million (+27.0%), excluding one-off gains, to £62.1 million (FY23: £48.8m).
+7.7%
+7.7% growth of store sales in FY24 on a LFL basis, reflecting the impact of ongoing investment in capabilities.
5. Proven sources of growth
Progress continues at pace on the delivery of our ‘Opening our New Future’ growth strategy which is transitioning cardfactory into an omnichannel retailer of cards, gifts and celebration essentials in the UK and internationally.
Recent milestones include:
- Rollout of Store Evolution Programme which is showing increased customer satisfaction and a positive revenue impact with the reduction in card space allocation not adversely impacting sales, while we have seen revenue growth from increased space allocation to gifts and celebration essentials.
- Strong sales growth within the gifts and celebration essentials categories through the introduction of new and refreshed ranges.
6. Cash generative model with diversifying income sources
Scope for generating growth from proven success of current partner relationships including Aldi and Matalan in the UK as well as The Reject Shop stores in Australia.
The appointment of a franchise partner in the Middle East and the acquisition of SA Greetings, adds to the diversification.