York’s Gear4music sees 43% jump in sales to £80m

York-based Gear4music, the online retailer of musical instruments and equipment, said in a trading update for the 12 months to February 28, 2018, that its revenues rose 43% to £80.1 million.

European and Rest of the World sales soared 69% to £35.8 million and UK sales sales rose 27% to £44.2 million.

Gear4music CEO Andrew Wass said: “We are very pleased to have grown our revenues from £56 million last year to £80 million this year, particularly given the heightened economic uncertainty that has impacted many retailers during the last 12 months.

“As previously communicated, in 2017 we focused on scaling-up our business to ensure we have the capacity for further growth, investing into our European distribution centres, our new head office in York, and expanding our platform development capability.

“EBITDA for the second half of FY18 will be ahead of the six-month period ended 28 February 2017, although as a result of the investments we have made during the year into our customer proposition, infrastructure, staff, systems and marketing, we expect EBITDA for the full financial year ended 28 February 2018 to be in line with our FY17 result.

“We are confident that we are well placed to significantly grow both revenues and profitability during the next 12 months, as margins normalise, and the up-front investments we have made clearly demonstrate their ongoing value to the business.”