The Works has grown its half year revenue by 30.6% year-on-year and delivered record Christmas sales despite the emergence of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.
In the six months to 31 October, the art, crafts, book and toy retailer achieved strong two-year like-for-like sales growth of 14.5%, which was ahead of expectations.
Adjusted EBITDA came in at £2.5 million compared with £1.5 million a year ago and a reported pre-tax loss of £1 million was an improvement on the prior year’s loss of £4.3 million.
During the period, The Works continued to drive what it described as a step-change in its online offering by developing complementary range extensions and investing in its platform, digital marketing capabilities and fulfilment capacity. It also worked to improve the in-store shopping experience through better space management and improved merchandising standards.
The Works opened three new stores, closed five and relocated four in the half-year and said the new and relocated stores have performed significantly ahead of expectations.
