Card Factory delivers solid sales growth, but shares pull back

22nd Jan 2015 11:09

Card Factory said it continued to perform well as it neared the end of its financial year, though shares dropped sharply on Thursday as investors took profits following a steady rise in the stock since its flotation last May.Sales at the UK greeting cards and gifts retailer rose 8.1% year-on-year over the period from February to December 2014.Like-for-like sales grew 1.8% and the group opened 51 new stores and saw further growth in the online business, Getting Personal.Chief executive Richard Hayes said: "With only a few days of our financial year remaining, it is pleasing to report that the group continues to perform well, has had a solid Christmas trading period, and is on course to deliver sales growth at a similar level to the previous year."Annual growth in the first 11 months of the previous financial year was 8.9%.Card Factory, which now has a total of 764 stores, will continue to achieve "further profitable growth", Hayes said.Despite the confident outlook, the stock was down 4.5% at 263.3p by 11:12 on Thursday, following a near-25% jump since Card Factory's initial public offering in May 2014.Broker Canaccord Genuity downgraded its rating on the shares from 'buy' to 'hold', saying that while the update was "solid" the stock recently surpassed its 270p target price.