York’s Gear4music in loss despite revenue of £118m

Shares of York-based Gear4music, the online retailer of musical equipment, fell more than 6% on Tuesday after it said revenue rose 48% to £118.1 million for the 13 months ended March 31, 2019, but the firm suffered a net loss of £163,000 after a £1.4 million net profit last year.

In January, shares of Gear4music fell about 50% after it said its full-year earnings would be hit by constraints at its distribution centre.

In his outlook, Gear4music chairman Ken Ford said: “The board has taken decisive action to address the underlying causes of the profitability challenges in FY19.

“Pleasingly, many of the issues faced are within our grasp to resolve and we are already starting to see the benefits of a more rigorous focus on margin.

“In parallel with these initiatives, we continue to see a significant opportunity to continue to win market share in the UK and across Europe. 

“With over £5m cash on hand at 31 March 2019, the Directors remain confident that the group has the financial resources required to achieve its business objectives during the next financial period.

“I believe the group will emerge from this period as a stronger and leaner business, well prepared and better placed for the next phase of our exciting growth journey.”

Gear4music CEO Andrew Wass said: “Alongside delivering strong revenue growth in the period, we have worked hard to implement a number of commercial and operational initiatives to address the previously reported issues.

“Our FY20 H1 focus is on improving gross margins and ensuring a robust operational infrastructure is in place ahead of our peak H2 trading period, and I am pleased to report these actions are already yielding positive results. 

“We are confident that we have the right strategy, customer proposition, financial resources and focus, to overcome the challenges of FY19, and achieve our objectives of maximising customer satisfaction and delivering value to shareholders.”