ScS, Sunderland sofa firm, ups revenue 21% to £310m

Sunderland-based furniture and floorings retailer ScS Group said its revenue rose 21.6% to £310.6 million in the 53 weeks to July 31, 2021, and it made a profit before tax of £22.7 million compared to a loss of £3.1 million in the prior year.

But the firm warned it is facing problems with “supply chain, including driver shortages, raw material increases and shipping costs and delays.”

Nonetheless ScS is recommending a final dividend of 7p per share, which if approved, would give a full year dividend of 10p per share, compared to nothing in the prior year.

ScS chief executive officer Steve Carson said: “Trading since the start of the new financial year has remained strong, with two year like-for-like order intake growth of 11.9% for the nine weeks to 2 October 2021.

“One year like-for-like orders have fallen 21.0% as a result of the significant bounce following the lockdown in the prior year.

“We are delighted with the strong orders performance since the start of the new financial year.

“However, we are cognisant of the ongoing challenges we, and many other businesses, are facing with regards to the supply chain, including driver shortages, raw material increases and shipping costs and delays.

We have demonstrated throughout the pandemic that we have a flexible and resilient business model which is able to adapt to changes in the macro-environment whilst still delivering for our customers.

“We look forward to embedding the new purpose and mission statement into our operations and delivering on our refreshed strategy for future growth which we are setting out today.”