Specialist kitchenware retailer ProCook (LON:PROC) served up strong FY26 results with sales tracking ahead of schedule just two years into management’s new growth strategy.
The company delivered significant market share gains and robust sales growth as it opened new stores and attracted new customers. Investors also welcomed a positive start to FY27 from ProCook.
Momentum has carried over into the new financial year. Revenues were up 21.5% during Q1 despite a softer consumer backdrop.
Cooking up growth
Gloucester-headquartered ProCook is a direct-to-consumer specialist kitchenware brand operating 79 stores and its own website. The company sells high-quality cookware, kitchenware and tableware ranges which provide customers with value for money.
Results for the year ended 29 March showed a 23% surge in group revenue to a record £85.5 million including like-for-like growth of 11.8%. ProCook outperformed the wider UK kitchenware market. Retail stores revenue grew 23.1%, while ecommerce sales steamed 22.9% higher.
The company cooked up a 64.5% surge in underlying pre-tax profits to £2.5 million. That beat the £2.3 million Canaccord Genuity was calling for.
FY26 saw further strategic progress with 13 new stores opened and one closure. A further two stores opened post year-end, taking ProCook’s total estate to 79. According to management, ProCook’s new store format provides an enhanced, more inspirational customer experience.
What did the CEO say?
CEO Lee Tappenden said: ‘ProCook’s unique proposition, as a category specialist offering high quality products at greater value due to our own-brand, direct-sourced business model, combined with excellent service, is clearly resonating with our customers.
‘We have driven excellent profitable, cash generative growth, significantly outperforming the market by expanding our store network, extending and refreshing our product range, and attracting more customers to our brand through lifestyle-led social campaigns.’
Under Tappenden and CFO Dan Walden, ProCook has made excellent progress against the medium-term targets set out in June 2024. The plan is to grow the estate to 100 UK retail stores, deliver £100 million of revenue and a 10% operating margin.
ProCook has a long growth runway with a mere 1.9% share of a highly fragmented UK kitchenware market. Customers who find the brand like it. This is why ProCook is investing in store expansion, increased digital marketing and product range innovation.
Singer Capital Markets’ analysis shows ‘significant profit potential beyond the mid term target even in uncertain times’. The broker says ProCook’s ‘rapid payback on store capex is driving return on capital employed (ROCE), and refits are now being trialled too. Strong execution and growth prospects are not priced in.’
Read the press release here: https://www.procookgroup.co.uk/investors/
