Hornby on track despite sales fall

3rd Jun 2011 07:10

Toy train maker Hornby saw sales fall in the year to 31 March, but blamed this on supply issues rather than the tough economic outlook and said it the business is in "great shape."Sales slipped to £63.4m from £63.9m the previous year, while pre-tax profits fell to £4.1m from £5.7m.Hornby, most famous for train sets, but also the maker of Scaletrix racing sets and Corgi models, said that its largest supplier in China failed to meet the company's product supply requirements. It said it has been working to improve the performance of that supplier and others and to diversify the supply base. Compounding these issues, the wintery weather in Britain in December hurt sales during the Christmas period.However, Hornby is confident on future prospects and says sales of merchandise for the London 2012 Olympics are gathering momentum."We are increasingly convinced that our involvement with this once in a lifetime opportunity will have long term benefits in respect of distribution and product category diversification," the company said."We look forward with anticipation and confidence to the new financial year and beyond."---RG