Gardening Direct sales up, but overall sales down at Flying Brands

Sales at Flying Brands fell to £4.83 million in its final quarter of 2011 compared to £6.43 million in the same period in the previous year.

The online and catalogue company said trading during the quarter was dominated by its flower division's peak Christmas selling season.

The company’s decision to cut up-front marketing expenditure in light of the general economic climate and its recent performance at Christmas meant that sales were down on a year ago at £3.29 million versus £4.47 million.

However, a combination of higher margins, lower marketing costs and an improved refunds and replacements performance has led the company to expect contribution to be "significantly ahead" of last year and broadly in line with management's expectations.

Orders edged up slightly at Gardening Direct a £0.34 million compared to £0.32 million last year and sales at gardencentreonline.co.uk were in line with management expectations at £0.21 million compared to £0.27 million last year.

Sales at Garden Bird Supplies were affected by the very mild weather and were below expectations at £0.64 million versus £0.91 million in the same period in the prior year. Sales in Listen2 were in line with management expectations at £0.35 million compared to £0.46 million in the previous year.

Source : Retail Bulletin
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