Revival in live bands music to the ears of retailer

A resurgence of live bands in pubs and other venues has boosted sales at musical instruments retailer Gear4music.

The York-based firm said sales of microphones and PA systems were particularly strong during the festive period, rising by a massive 83 per cent on last year.

After years of dwindling demand for live music in pubs, the sector is seeing a resurgence.

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Gear4music reported a 46 per cent leap in total like-for-like sales to £35.5m in the year to February 29 following strong growth in both the UK and Europe.

The firm said that strong Continental sales were driven by competitive pricing. The group’s online model cuts out the cost of having high street stores.

The group added more than 190,000 new customers over the year and following a successful trial over Christmas, it has introduced seven days a week delivery on a large range of products which has received good customer feedback.

Gear4music’s chief executive Andrew Wass said: “We have been extremely pleased with the trading performance of Gear4music over the year. It’s been a pivotal 12 months for the business as we’ve been able to deliver strong growth in both the UK and Europe, whilst completing our IPO.

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“We continue to execute our strategy with proceeds from the IPO invested into stock, systems and website improvements which, combined with the hard work of our growing and talented team, has helped us to significantly increase our market share.”

He said this has resulted in revenues and profits being at the higher end of the board’s expectations.

Analyst George O’Connor, at Panmure, said: “Gear4music has rocked up with a sparkling maiden full year trading update, beating our forecasts with the highlight very strong revenue growth – group revenue of £35.5m versus our £32.6m target.”

The company will report annual results on May 10.

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