Angling Direct PLC on Wednesday said it remained focused on gaining market share in the long-term but faced unpredictable trading conditions in the meantime.

For the six months that ended July 31, the Norfolk, England-based fishing tackle and equipment retailer reported pretax profit of £1.1 million, down 70% from £3.7 million a year prior. This was despite revenue rising slightly to £38.9 million, up 1.3% from £38.4 million.

Cost of sales of goods rose by 6.3% to £25.5 million from £24.0 million, outpacing the revenue increase.

Angling Direct shares were trading 15% lower at 27.34 pence each in London on Wednesday morning, following the announcement.

Angling Direct said that since the July 31 year-end, sales have been hurt by unusually hot temperatures in the UK, which caused some fishery closures and led to a 7.0% drop in sales in August, its peak trading month, compared to the same month last year.

Looking forward, the retailer said the general market outlook has deteriorated further in recent weeks, creating a heightened degree of uncertainty that makes short-term forecasting ‘extremely challenging’.

The company said that it remained optimistic about its long-term prospects, but in light of volatile trading conditions, would be reducing its expectations for both revenue and pre-IFRS 16 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the 2023 financial year.

It is confident that revenue and pre-IFRS 16 Ebitda for the year ending January 31 will not be less than £73.8 million and £2.2 million respectively. For the financial year that ended January 31, 2022, Angling Direct reported revenue of £72.5 million and Ebitda on the same basis of £5.2 million.

Chief Executive Officer Andy Torrance said he believed that continued strategic investment now would leave Angling Direct ‘best placed competitively when consumer confidence returns’.

Torrance noted that sales in the first quarter of the current financial year were 5.4% ahead of sales a year prior, ‘before sentiment began to be significantly impacted by the cost-of-living crisis’.

He added that the company will only continue to invest ‘in a controlled manner’, and ‘only to the extent that it retains both strong liquidity and its robust balance sheet’.

Angling Direct declared no interim dividend, unchanged from a year before.

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