ScS PLC, one of the UK’s largest retailers of upholstered furniture and floorings, has contrived to hold its annual general meeting (AGM) on Black Friday.
Britons may not celebrate Thanksgiving but they seem to have taken to Black Friday well enough, even if the net result for retailers seems to be that they get a revenue boost just before Christmas rather than just after it, as was the case when the Boxing Day sales were the big lure for compulsive shoppers.
When last we heard from ScS it was bouncing back from the lockdown well, with gross sales in the 53 weeks to the end of July up 21% year-on-year.
One year like-for-like order intake was down 1.5%, despite the group’s stores being closed for 17 weeks in 2021, compared with nine weeks in 2020, and this will be a key performance indicator that analysts will be looking for in the AGM statement.
Since the end of July, trading had been in line with expectations, the company said in early October, with like-for-like order intake up 11.9% on a two-year like-for-like basis in the first nine weeks of the new financial year; one-year like-for-like order intake was down 21.0%, reflecting the release of pent-up demand after the end of the first lockdown in 2020.
Significant announcements expected
AGMs/EGMs: Base Resources Ltd, Oilex Limited, Oncimmune Holdings PLC, Quadrise Fuels International PLC, ScS Group PLC, Sylvania Platinum Ltd
Economic announcements: CTFC GBP NC Net positions (UK)
