ProCook Group PLC on Wednesday reported a swing to loss for financial 2023 and lower revenue in the first quarter of new financial year, but eyes opportunities ahead.

Shares were down 11% at 23.43 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.

The Gloucester-based kitchenware retailer posted revenue of £62.3 million for the year ended on April 2, down 9.9% from £69.2 million the year before. Like-for-like revenue declined by 11% year-on-year against outperformance in the prior year.

It swung to a pretax loss of £6.5 million from a profit of £94,000 the year before, as operating loss widened to £5.4 million from £227,000 the year before. It incurred an expense of £1.1 million during the year regarding financial items, compared to a gain of £300,000 the year before.

Gross profit margin was 61.5% for the year, down from 65.1% the year before. ProCook said this was held back by ‘higher supply chain costs and foreign exchange impacts, partly offset by pricing’.

Chief Executive Officer Daniel O’Neill said: ‘This year the economic backdrop has been one of the toughest I have experienced in my career. Our customers and colleagues have felt the squeeze on disposable incomes as inflation has soared upwards. We have faced challenging trading conditions before, and emerged stronger, more nimble, and more determined to press ahead with our mission to become the customers’ first choice for kitchenware.’

The firm did not declare a dividend payment for this financial year.

Looking ahead, ProCook said revenue in the first quarter of financial 2024 amounted to £10.7 million, down 6.7% year-on-year, impacted by warm weather and soft homewares market during May and June. A year ago, it had reported first quarter revenue of £11.4 million.

However, it said it sees clear opportunities ahead to attract more customers to the ProCook brand and grow its market share.

Net debt at year-end amounted to £2.8 million, compared to £1.8 million a year before.

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