9 September 2022
Gear4music (Holdings) plc
AGM Statement and Trading Update
Gear4music (Holdings) plc, ('Gear4music' or 'the Group') (LSE: G4M), the UK's largest retailer of musical instruments and music equipment, will hold its Annual General Meeting at 10.30am today.
At the meeting Gear4music's Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Wass, will make the following statement:
"As previously reported, we were expecting inflationary pressures to restrict operating margins during FY23, and despite the weaker consumer environment we are pleased to have achieved sales growth during Q1. Trading during July and August has, however, been further impacted by the widely reported cost of living crisis and unusually hot weather across Europe.
We expected a return to a more normalised seasonal trading pattern during FY23 with less demand during summer months than winter months, and early indications are that trading has improved in September. However, given the lack of visibility over the timing of any improvement in consumer sentiment and wider macroeconomic conditions as we approach H2, we believe it is now prudent to moderate our full year expectations accordingly.*
We now expect FY23 revenue to grow to approximately £155 million with EBITDA of £9m. In line with our stated strategy the Group will continue to focus on delivering profitable growth as its first priority.
Our pipeline of growth orientated projects, including AV.com, continues to make good progress, and we are seeing strong results following last year's investment into our new European distribution hubs. We remain well funded and profitable and the Board retains its confidence in our medium and longer-term profitable growth strategy.
The Group intends to announce a more detailed trading update in relation to the six-month period ending 30 September 2022 on 20 October 2022, followed by half year results for this period on 15 November 2022."
* Gear4music believes that consensus market expectations for the year ending 31 March 2023 prior to release of this announcement were revenues of £163.9 million and EBITDA of £11.9 million.
ENDS
Enquiries:
| Gear4music Andrew Wass, Chief Executive Officer Chris Scott, Chief Financial Officer | +44 (0)20 3405 0205 |
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| Singer Capital Markets - Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker Peter Steel/Amanda Gray, Corporate Finance Tom Salvesen, Corporate Broking | +44 (0)20 7496 3000
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| Investec Bank plc - Joint Broker David Flin Alex Wright Alice King | +44 (0)20 7597 5970
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| Alma PR - Financial PR David Ison Lily Soares Smith Joe Pederzolli Josh Royston | +44 (0)20 3405 0205 Gear4music@almapr.co.uk
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About Gear4music (Holdings) plc
Operating from a Head Office in York, Distribution Centres in York, Sweden, Germany, Ireland & Spain, and showrooms in York, Sweden & Germany, the Group sells own-brand musical instruments and music equipment alongside premium third-party brands including Fender, Yamaha and Roland, to customers ranging from beginners to musical enthusiasts and professionals, in the UK, Europe and the Rest of the World.
Having developed its own e-commerce platform, with multilingual, multicurrency websites delivering to over 190 countries, the Group continues to build its overseas presence.
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