Stanley Gibbons Group PLC AGM Trading Statement (6773D)
May 01 2013 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMSGI
RNS Number : 6773D
Stanley Gibbons Group PLC
01 May 2013
THE STANLEY GIBBONS GROUP PLC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 1 May 2013
THE STANLEY GIBBONS GROUP PLC ("the Company")
Trading Statement
Ahead of the Annual General Meeting to be held later today, the
Board of the Company updates the market with the following Trading
Statement:
"Turnover for the first quarter, traditionally the quietest, was
12% above last year's despite 2012 including a large sale of GBP1m
to one client. Sales in 2013 have benefited from the investment
made in our stockholding, as shown in the 2012 Annual Report.
Overall trading in the first quarter was in line with our
expectations and after charging costs associated with our planned
increased investment in developing our online strategy. The Group's
balance sheet remains strong with net cash balances in excess of
GBP7 million at the end of March.
Implementation of our strategy is on target. The Board remains
enthusiastic about the prospects in monetising our brand, products
and services to achieve their potential.
If approved today, the Company's final dividend of 3.75p per
share will be paid to Shareholders on 20 May 2013.
Our interim results for the six months ending 30 June 2013 will
be announced on 8 August 2013.
Our business is now split into two streams; "traditional dealing
& auction activities" and the "digital division". A summary of
progress made in these operating units during the first quarter of
the year is provided below:
a) Traditional dealing & auction activities
Trading was strong across most components of this segment,
particularly in philatelic dealing of rare and high value British
stamps, rare coins and other top quality collectibles. Increased
interest was evident from international clients seeking to acquire
our class of assets both for enjoyment and as a long term
investment proposition. We have recently acquired another highly
prestigious collection to satisfy such demand.
Our auction business delivered a substantially improved
performance in the first quarter, attributed to the continued
strength of the global philatelic market in conjunction with the
continued increased tradability from increasing use of the internet
for online live bidding and also new high net worth collectors
entering the market. Auction services have benefited from our
investment and focus in recent years, together with the
international recognition for our brand name, putting us in a
strong position to continue to develop our global auction brand and
services internationally.
Our office in Hong Kong is delivering further strong returns
this year after an exceptional first year of trading in 2012.
We officially opened our new office in Singapore a week ago. The
launch PR campaign delivered some excellent coverage in the local
quality, financial and luxury press as well as interviews on BBC
Asia and prime time radio.
b) Digital Division
Total revenues generated through our websites, including sales
of our own products, subscription revenue and commission income,
when we act as agent, were in line with plan. Priority is on
putting in place the quality people required fully to develop our
online opportunities to their full potential. Technical aspects are
progressing well.
We have recently filled our three most senior level positions
under our Chief Digital Officer, Mark Rosenberg. This includes Paul
Zimmerman, who has come on board as Director of E-Commerce
Operations. Paul brings highly relevant skills, having previously
worked in this capacity at Amazon UK, as well as Play.com where he
was Marketplace Director and Head of Business Development. His
proven track record commercialising e-commerce ventures will play
an integral role in executing on our digital strategy.
Venkat Mavram has also joined our team as Vice President of
Engineering. Venkat previously worked at eBay for 11 years where he
managed the eBay selling tools engineering teams. He has direct
experience not only building large scale engineering teams and
executing on strategy, but direct auction and marketplace
experience.
In respect of Group IT support, Tony Ganzon has joined us as
Internal IT Operations Manager. Tony brings with him a strong IT
management background, and previously worked at Cisco for 12 years.
His experience in managing IT systems, and providing significant
cost savings and business streamlining will help to align and
strengthen all IT systems and procedures.
Other key appointments recently made include Lloyd de Vries who
joins as Community Manager. Lloyd is part of the Virtual Stamp
Club, which he formed nearly 20 years ago and we recently acquired.
This provides a website and community for stamp collectors, with
hundreds of posts and daily interactions. The Virtual Stamp Club
has been integrated into our bidStart platform, strengthening
bidStart's goals of becoming not just a marketplace but a true
community for collectors.
Each of these highly skilled and experienced individuals had
many other opportunities available to them, but chose to join
Stanley Gibbons because they share our vision and aspirations for
the future. They also see the significant potential we have in the
digital space, and with their help we believe we can execute
accordingly."
For further information, contact:
The Stanley Gibbons Group plc
Michael Hall, Chief Executive +44 (0) 1534 766711
Donal Duff, Chief Operating Officer and Finance Director
Peel Hunt LLP, NOMAD/Broker
Dan Webster/Matthew Armitt/Richard Brown +44 (0) 20 7418 8900
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
AGMIMMFTMBIJBFJ
Stanley Gibbons (LSE:SGI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Stanley Gibbons (LSE:SGI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024