Card Factory completes £225m refinancing as reopening sales soar
Card Factory today said it had completed a £225m refinancing deal with its existing commercial bank syndicate.
The increased bank facilities will provide extra liquidity above the original £200m it replaces.
The facilities will provide Card Factory with the necessary financial resources to focus on future growth, such as boosting its online presence.
Darcy Wilson-Rymer, chief executive of Card Factory, said the increased banking facilities will “afford the group the headroom required” to grow.
“In particular, enhancing our card-led proposition through all sales channels and accelerating the increase in our capability and capacity to fulfil sales demand via our online channel, and so capitalise upon the move to online adopted by more customers over the last year.”
Card Factory reopened its stores in England and Wales on 12 April after months of closures due to Covid restrictions.
Delivering a trading update, the company said initial stores sales exceeded expectations and beat their reopening performances following the first and second lockdowns.
Increased spend per transaction had offset reduced retail footfall, with customers shopping less frequently but buying more.
Online sales have fallen as customers have returned to stores but are still exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
“The strong trading performance in our stores over the last few weeks reflects the extensive preparations to maximise meeting our customers’ needs completed by the wider Card Factory team,” Wilson-Rymer added.
Following the trading update, shares in Card Factory plunged 12.7 per cent as markets opened.