Card Factory to pay special dividend

The Wakefield-based retailer, which went public in 2014, said revenue for the six months to July at stores open for more than a year rose 3.1 percent.

Pretax profit fell 14 per cent to £23.2m hurt by increased costs such the national living wage and a weaker pound.

Karen Hubbard, CEO of Card Factory, said: “We have delivered a solid set of interim results with strong growth in like-for-like sales and total revenue, despite the decline in footfall seen across the high street; however, profitability over the half year was impacted by foreign exchange, national living wage and some of the important investments we are making in the business for longer term growth.

“Our business model remains highly cash generative and we are pleased to be announcing another special dividend of 15p per share.

“Together with the interim dividend, this means we will have returned £246.5m to shareholders since IPO in May 2014.

“We are the clear leaders in the greeting card market, with a strong proposition which is resonating well with customers despite challenges in the wider consumer environment.

“Trading in recent weeks has been similar to the encouraging trends seen in the first half, with continued growth in average spend as customers respond well to our new and better ranges.

“We remain as convinced as ever of the strong growth prospects for the business.”