Marks Electrical Group plc

AGM trading update for the four months ended 31 July 2023

Strong trading momentum driven by excellent customer service

Marks Electrical Group plc ("Marks Electrical" or "The Group"), a fast-growing online electrical retailer, provides a trading update for the four months ended 31 July 2023 ("the period"), ahead of the Company's Annual General Meeting to be held today at 11:00 a.m. BST ("AGM").

Highlights

·Strong trading period in the first four months of FY24 (April to July), with revenue growth of 30.7% to £36.2m (4 months FY23 £27.7m)

·Increased market share in Major Domestic Appliances ("MDA") from 2.4% in Q1-23 to 3.0% in Q1-24, with Marks Electrical share in the online segment of the market growing from 4.5% to 5.7%⁽¹⁾

·Increased market share in Consumer Electronics ("CE") from 0.3% in Q1-23 to 0.6% in Q1-24, with Marks Electrical share in the online segment of the market growing from 0.6% to 1.0%⁽¹⁾

·Strong performance across categories with a particular stand-out performance in televisions (+84%), washer-dryers (+83%), and cordless vacuum cleaners (+62%)

·Continued growth in next-day integrated, gas, electric and television installation services, with over 4,500 installation orders in the period, vs 1,500 in the prior year, a growth rate of 200%

·Investment in distribution centre, vehicles and processes, preparing us for peak autumn trading and our future growth ambitions

·Maintained industry leading Trustpilot score of 4.8 and reached over 50,000 reviews with 95% of those reviews being 4 and 5 star, demonstrating the strength of our best-in-class customer proposition

·Robust balance sheet and net cash position, supporting the proposed final dividend of 0.66p per share, subject to shareholder approval at today's AGM

Mark Smithson, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We've made a fast start to FY24 with revenue growth of over 30% against an MDA & CE market that is marginally down in the first months of our financial year.

We've maintained our industry leading Trustpilot score of 4.8, and reached over 50,000 reviews on Trustpilot, which I am particularly proud of as it takes a combined effort from all our excellent team members, from sales ordering, through to picking, logistics, delivery, and customer aftercare, to deliver an exceptional customer service.

Our focus and attention on growing our installation offering is enabling us to create a truly differentiated, market-leading proposition for customers, further enhancing the strengths of our operating model. We have been very encouraged by the take-up of this service, which is now available to over 65% of the UK population on a next-day basis, and are excited about its potential.

Despite a challenging market backdrop, including wage inflation and strong competitor activity on gross margin, we have maintained our tight control on inventory, overhead cost management and disciplined capital allocation, ensuring we have a healthy cash position and remaining focused on profitable market share gains as our brand awareness continues to grow.

We've started August well and are laser-focused on maintaining our performance management discipline on revenue, profit and cash in order to continue to demonstrate our superior proposition and become the UK's leading premium electrical retailer."

^{(1) Based on the Group's analysis of GfK Market Intelligence sales tracking GB data, Major Domestic Appliances and Consumer Electronics. During the year GfK reclassified floorcare from major domestic appliances to small domestic appliances. As such the current year 3.0% is on the new definition and the prior year 2.1% has been restated and is now 2.4%. July market data unavailable at the time of print.}

Enquiries:

Marks Electrical Group plc                                                                                 Via Dentons Global Advisors:

Mark Smithson (CEO)                                                                                                           Tel: +44 (0)20 7664 5095

Josh Egan (CFO)                                                                                                                 

Dentons Global Advisors (Financial PR)

Jonathon Brill / James Styles / Fern Duncan                                                                       Tel: +44 (0)20 7664 5095

markselectrical@dentonsglobaladvisors.com                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Canaccord Genuity (NOMAD and Broker)

Max Hartley (Nomad) / Kit Stephenson (Sales)                                                                   Tel: +44 (0) 207 886 2500                                                     

About Marks Electrical

Marks Electrical is a fast growing, highly scalable, technology driven e-commerce electricals retailer which sells, delivers, installs and recycles a wide range of household electrical products. The Group was founded in Leicester in 1987 by Mark Smithson and has scaled into a nationwide online retailer with a compelling growth track record, thanks to its vertically integrated, low-cost, high-quality operating model, supported by the ongoing structural shift of consumers to purchase online. The Group operates within the UK Major Domestic Appliances (MDA) and Consumer Electronics (CE) market, estimated to be worth approximately £7 billion.

Primarily through its simple, clear and intuitive website - markselectrical.co.uk - the Group offers over 4,500 products from over 50 leading brands across its main product categories, which include Cooking, Refrigeration, Washers & Dryers, Dishwashers and Audio-Visual. These products are sourced from UK distributors of the brands, with whom the Group maintains strong and direct relationships. Marks Electrical delivers direct to customers in its owned and branded vehicles, operated by the Group's skilled team of delivery drivers, who are also able to offer installation and recycling services.

For further information, visit the Marks Electrical corporate website: https://group.markselectrical.co.uk and its retail website: https://markselectrical.co.uk/.