Hammer bang on as revenues rise

UK sales up 10.8 per cent to £79m as total sales reach £133m

Double-digit UK growth helped distributor Hammer swell total turnover 6.4 per cent in its fiscal 2015, according to accounts filed with Companies House.

For the the 12 months to 31 January 2015, the UK-headquartered storage specialist grew total turnover by 6.4 per cent annually to almost £133m. The vast majority of the top-line expansion came from its native country, where revenue increased 10.8 per cent to £78.7m.

Yearly sales across the rest of Europe inched up by about £500,000 to £50.7m, while the rest of the world contributed an annual total of £3.6m to the top line - about £200,000 down on FY14.

Hammer also enjoyed an increase in profitability, as its pre-tax income spiked by just over a third year on year to almost £5.2m. This equates to an increase in pre-tax margins from 3.1 per cent to 3.9 per cent. Shareholders' funds at year end stood at almost £28.2m, an increase of more than £1m on the prior year.

Despite the relatively flat sales performance outside its home country, the distributor claims in its directors' report for the year that it "continued its geographic expansion into markets outside the UK" during FY15. And the firm intends to further broaden its European reach over the coming year.

"Further consolidation and organic growth within the EMEA region... also positions the company well in order to benefit from further increasing trade within the eurozone over the coming year," the directors concluded.

During FY15 Hammer's average monthly employee numbers rose from 135 to 131. Despite this increase, its annual wage and benefits bill fell from more than £8m to £6.7m.