Hobbs posts 18 percent increase in full-year EBITDA

Announcing its results for the year ended January 30, 2016, Hobbs said that while total sales decreased from 116.6 million pounds (153.3 million dollars) in 2015 to 109.9 million pounds (144.4 million dollars), EBITDA improved 18 percent to 7.7 million pounds (10.1 million dollars).

Commenting on the results, Meg Lustman, CEO of Hobbs said, “It has been an exciting year for Hobbs and our results are very encouraging. Our strong performance this year against an uncertain economic backdrop is an indication of the success of our investments and our growing international footprint.”

Reports strong like-for-like sales growth

The company said that Hobbs has had a positive year, cementing its strong position in the UK market as well as successfully pursuing new growth opportunities. There has been significant progress in expanding Hobbs internationally with strong like-for-like growth and new store openings in the US, as well as successful entry into Germany.

18 percent EBITDA improvement was driven by margin rate gains, partially offset by the additional investment made in growing the business internationally. The margin rate has improved by 3.3 percentage points to 63.8 percent resulting from growth in full price sales.

International expansion – Highlight of the fiscal

During the year, two new solus stores were opened in Birmingham and Manchester and the solus store in Milton Keynes were relocated. Post-period end, the High Street Kensington store was opened.

In the USA, four new concessions were opened and a further five have opened post-period end along with the launch on Bloomingdales.com. Hobbs now trades 14 concessions and a website through Bloomingdales and has entered Germany through relationships with Wohrl, SinnLeffers and Zalando.

To support the growth strategy, a number of changes were made to the structure of the Board including the appointment of Simon Luscombe to the new role of Omnichannel Trading Director. Mehul Tank has been appointed as CFO post-period end, completing the line-up of the Board.