In an update to the London Stock Exchange, online musical instrument retailer Gear4music said that weaker consumer demand in both February and March had impacted its revenues. UK sales were down by 1 per cent with European sales which make up a much smaller proportion of its overall sales had inched up by three per cent.
As a result, the business says that it now expects its EBITDA profit to fall to between £7.3m and £7.7m for the year ended March 31st 2023, as compared to the £11m it generated for FY22.
CEO Andrew Wass commented: “Whilst challenging economic conditions meant we were not able to grow revenues and profits as intended during FY23, we are pleased to have made good progress with our objective of significantly reducing the Group’s net debt position, from £24.2m a year ago to £14.5m as at 31st March 2023.
“The further investment into our European distribution infrastructure during FY22 underpinned our progress in Europe during FY23, although high rates of inflation continue to squeeze consumer spending on discretionary items across all of our markets. In the UK, as previously announced, courier disruption impacted trading during our busiest period.”
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