ScS returns to profit

Furniture retailer ScS has posted a pre-tax profit of £22.7 million for the 53 weeks to 31 July compared to a loss of £3.1 million in the prior year.

The Sunderland based retailer also saw its revenue climb by 21.6% to £310.6 million in the period as gross sales increased by 21% to £324.5 million.

ScS said its one year like-for-like order intake was only down 1.5%, despite stores being closed for 17 weeks in 2021, compared with nine  weeks in 2020.

Meanwhile, online sales surged by 146% to £46.9 million following the retailer’s continued investment in its online business and an increase in people shopping online when stores were closed.

ScS said trading in the first nine weeks of the new financial year has been in line with expectations with order intake up 11.9% on a two-year like-for-like basis and down 21% on one-year like-for-like basis after the prior year benefited from pent-up demand following the end of the first national lockdown.

Steve Carson, chief executive of ScS, said: “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.”