TIDMFISH

RNS Number : 2374X

Fishing Republic PLC

20 February 2017

20 February 2017

AIM: FISH

Fishing Republic plc

("Fishing Republic" or "the Company")

Trading Update

Fishing Republic, one of the largest fishing tackle retailers in the UK, is pleased to announce an update on trading for the financial year to 31 December 2016.

The Company continues to make encouraging progress and results for the year are expected to be in line with current market expectations. Revenue is expected to show an increase of approximately 40% year-on-year, driven by the addition of new stores, organic growth across existing stores, and strong growth in own website sales.

We are making good progress with our online sales strategy, where we are transitioning away from third party platforms to own website sales, where margins are higher and we own the customer. As a result, our own website sales increased by 132% year-on-year and accounted for c. 40% of total online sales for the year. As expected, with lower third party sales, total online sales decreased but, importantly, overall gross margins improved. We will continue to expand our in-house capabilities in digital technology, marketing and customer data in the year ahead to support this transition strategy.

The three new stores opened in the first half of the financial year, in South Birmingham, Crewe and Hull, are continuing to build their sales in line with management forecasts. The Lincoln store, acquired in September 2016, has now been fully integrated and its sales since acquisition are ahead of the prior year. The Company opened a new store in Mildenhall just before the year end and one in Milton Keynes in January 2017. Two further stores, in Reading and Ipswich, are expected to open before the end of Q1 and further openings are planned later in the year.

Full year results will be announced towards the end of April, when a further update on trading will also be provided.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014.

Enquiries:

 
 Fishing Republic plc               T: 01709 722590 
  Steve Gross, Chief Executive 
  Russell Holmes, Finance 
  Director 
 
 KTZ Communications Limited         T: 020 3178 6378 
 Katie Tzouliadis / Emma 
  Pearson 
 
 Northland Capital Partners         T: 020 3861 6625 
  Limited 
 Nominated Adviser and Broker 
 Matthew Johnson / David 
  Hignell (Corporate Finance) 
 John Howes (Corporate Broking)

About Fishing Republic plc

www.fishingrepublic.net

Fishing Republic is one of the largest fishing tackle retailers in the UK. Established in 1985, the Company caters for all types of anglers: coarse, carp, game and sea fishing. It operates a chain of 'destination' retail outlets and has an online presence both through third party online retailers and its own websites (www.fishingrepublic.net and www.yorkshiregameangling.co.uk). Its comprehensive product offering includes own-brand ranges, such as Klobba and Theseus.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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