GEAR4MUSIC (HOLDINGS) PLC

Earnings Release • Sep 4, 2015

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RNS Number : 0529Y

Gear4music (Holdings) PLC

04 September 2015

4 September 2015

Gear4music (Holdings) plc

Trading Update

Gear4music (Holdings) plc ("Gear4music" or "the Company"), one of the largest UK based online retailers of musical instruments and music equipment, today announces a trading update for the six months to 31 August 2015.

£'000	6 months to 31 August 2015	6 months to 31 August 2014	% change
UK sales	9,584	6,953	+38%
European sales	2,909	1,814	+60%
Total sales	12,493	8,767	+43%

Highlights

·     Strong increase in sales in both the UK and Europe - a 29% rise in website visitor numbers compared with the same period last year, contributed to a 43% increase in total like-for-like sales, with Active Customer¹ database numbers up by 32% to 400,000

·     Further expansion in the range of products offered for sale, with 11 new brands signed up in the period and more own brand products launched, taking the total number of products available to over 29,000 from 27,400 at the start of the financial year

·     IPO on AIM completed in June 2015 - the £10m IPO placing proceeds have enabled continued investment including further development of the ecommerce platform, additional marketing and extending the range of products held in stock

Gear4music Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Wass, said:

"We are delighted to announce our first trading update since the Company's flotation in June.

We are very pleased with the continuing strong performance of Gear4music, which has traded comfortably in line with the Board's expectations in the first half of our financial year, and we believe we are well placed as we approach our important Christmas trading period.

The funds raised in our recent IPO are allowing us to accelerate investment into our websites, product offering and specialist staff, to ensure our customers enjoy an even wider range of competitively priced products, backed up by our industry leading customer service, ordering convenience and delivery options."

¹Active customers are customers of the Group who have purchased item(s) at least once in the last two years;

The Company will be reporting interim results for the six months ending 31 August 2015 on Wednesday 28th October 2015.

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For further information please contact

Gear4music                                                                                                                                         +44 843 155 0800

Andrew Wass, Chief Executive Officer

Chris Scott, Chief Financial Officer

Panmure Gordon                                                                                                                               +44 20 7886 2500

(Financial Adviser, Nominated Adviser and Broker)

Fred Walsh / Peter Steel / Duncan Monteith - Investment Banking

Erik Anderson / Tom Salvesen - Corporate Broking

MHP Communications (Financial PR)                                                                                           +44 20 3128 8100

Andrew Leach

Simon Hockridge

Charlotte Coulson

Background to Gear4music

Operating from an office, showroom and distribution centre in York, the Group sells own-brand musical instruments and music equipment alongside premium third party brands including Fender, Yamaha and Gibson, to customers ranging from beginners to musical enthusiasts and professionals, in the UK and, more recently, into Europe.

Having developed its own ecommerce platform, with multilingual, multicurrency and fully responsive design websites covering 19 countries, the Group has rapidly expanded its database and continues to build its overseas presence.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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