Why Gear4music has seen its revenue and profit fall compared to last year

Andrew Wass is CEO of York-based Gear4music.

The York-based business registered revenue of £64.7m for the six months ended September 30, 2021, down 8 per cent from the same period last year.

However, last year it had experienced exceptional demand due to the lockdowns with other instrument retailers forced to shut and people faced with more time at home.

Compared to the six months ended September 30, 2019, when revenue was at £49.4m, the company has seen a rise of 31 per cent.

It's a similar story for opreating profit, which was down £4m compared to last year but up £2.2m on the year prior to that.

Despite this, the York-based firm was still trading below consensus market expectations as Brexit related supply chain issues dragged for longer than expected and third quarter European sales to date slower than expected.

Andrew Wass, CEO of Gear4music, said: "I am pleased to report that following the exceptional period of trading during financial year 2021, group financial performance during financial year 2022's first half was in-line with the board's expectations, retaining strong margins and achieving significantly improved profitability compared with the more comparable financial year 2020 first half trading period.

"Financial year 2022 quarter one sales were stronger than expected, which provided the basis for the board to upgrade its expectations on 22 June 2021.

"However, Brexit related supply chain challenges are persisting for longer than we had previously anticipated, and European third quarter sales to date have been slower than previously expected.

"As a result, the group is trading below financial year 2022 consensus market expectations, with the board now expecting that financial year 2022 EBITDA will be not less than £12m.

"As our new hubs in Ireland and Spain scale-up to build upon our existing European infrastructure, we are confident that the remaining Brexit related challenges will be resolved by financial year 2022's fourth quarter and our European customer proposition will be significantly strengthened."

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James Mitchinson