Shares in model railway firm Hornby have tumbled by around 20% this morning, after it warned that sales are “behind budget” as the cost of living squeeze hits consumer spending..
Hornby warned that demand had been hit by the “challenging consumer economic climate”, telling shareholders:
We remain cautious in our outlook for the full year and beyond due to a high level of uncertainty around the impact of several factors on our sales such as inflation and mortgage costs for consumers but with employment expected to remain high we are hopeful that the confidence in consumer spending remains.
Group sales for the third quarter covering the key Christmas trading period were ahead of the same period last year, though. Hornby said it benefitted from better availability of stock, price increases, and investment in e-commerce platforms and digital media.
And it is launching a new product this month – a new control system for trains which uses Bluetooth to connect to phones or tablets.
Leave a Comment