Matalan blames 'operational issues' for full-year sales and EBIDTA decline

Matalan has reported on trading for the full year ended 27^th February 2016, confirming that total sales declined by 3% to reach £1.06bn, compared with £1.09bn last year.

The report states that the market during the year has been challenging for the retailer, explaining that“Significant operational issues were encountered in the period with the supply chain programme being undertaken by the Group and our transition into a new warehouse. The resultant impact was heavily disrupted stock flow to our northern store estate and short term de-scaling of our online business.”

EBITDA (before exceptionals) declined by nearly half, from £100.3m in 2015 to just £56.2m.

The company states that it is making ‘good progress’ in managing these issues and believes it is well placed to ‘execute a recovery in performance’, moving forwards.

The report made reference to the Matalan Direct business, which was created in July 2015 as a result of the Group acquiring the trade and assets of an online bathroom retailer, but did not provide any financial or performance-related information. It said that Matalan Direct  offers ‘online category extensions to our Homeware ranges, such as bathrooms, furniture and blinds via a separate website and standalone supply chain, delivering direct from supplier to customer.’

View the full release here.

Source : Insight DIY

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