Marks Electrical Group, the Leicester-based online electrical retailer, has seen continued growth in its first half.
According to an update for the six months ended 30 September 2023 (HY24), a strong trading period has seen revenue growth of 24.8% to £53.9m, up from £43.1m in the same period last year.
The business saw continued market share gains in the Major Domestic Appliance and Consumer Electronics markets, and rapid growth in its premium next-day service offerings with integrated, gas, electric and television installation services achieving over 7,000 installation orders in the first half, against 2,500 in the prior year, and over 11,000 freestanding connection services against 5,000 last year.
Robust performance was seen across product categories with particularly high growth in televisions (+71%), washer-dryers (+74%) and American fridge-freezers (+36%).
Mark Smithson, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We’ve built on the good momentum delivered at the start FY24, with revenue growth of 24.8% against a Major Domestic Appliances & Consumer Electronics market that is broadly flat in the first half of our financial year.
“Our strategic decision to add in-house installation services to our offering has strengthened the Group’s premium service proposition, enabling us to develop a market leading installation offering, growing market share and driving revenue growth.
“The launch of this service, alongside the well documented industry-wide pressures regarding wage inflation, impacted our H1 margin, with the pressure on distribution and installation costs being higher than expected. At the same time, year on year, we remained disciplined on marketing costs, maintained our cost control on overheads and are continuing to gain market share profitably.
“We remain focused on our full year targets and expect margin pressure to ease in H2 as we benefit from improved operating leverage during the peak trading period.
“Our differentiated operating model, leading customer service and free next-day delivery provides a unique premium service proposition that sets us apart from the competition. I’m proud of our achievements in the first half and thank all of our colleagues for their commitment to developing and maintaining our superior customer offering, positioning us as the UK’s leading premium electrical retailer.
“We’ve exited September with order growth of over 20%, made a strong start to October, and are laser-focused on maintaining our performance management discipline on revenue, profit and cash in order to grow sustainably and achieve our full year targets.”
