Marks Electrical Group plc

AGM trading update for the four months ended 31 July 2022

Continued strong trading momentum despite challenging market back-drop

Marks Electrical Group plc ("Marks Electrical" or "The Group"), a fast-growing online electrical retailer, provides a trading update for the four months ended 31 July 2022 ("the period"), ahead of the Company's Annual General Meeting to be held today at 11:00 a.m. BST.

Highlights

• Strong trading period in the first four months of FY23, with revenue growth of 13.7% to £27.7m (4m FY22 £24.3m) against a particularly challenging market back-drop
• Growth in Major Domestic Appliances ("MDA") market share from 1.5% in Q1-22 to 2.1% in Q1-23, with our share in the online segment of the market growing from 2.5% to 3.8%⁽¹⁾
• Growth in Consumer Electronics ("CE") market share from 0.2% in Q1-22 to 0.3% in Q1-23, with our share in the online segment of the market growing from 0.3% to 0.6%⁽¹⁾
• Strong performance driven across categories but particularly in televisions, vacuum cleaners, washers & dryers, and air conditioning
• Maintained inventory levels, improving inventory turn, and continued focus on working capital management
• Industry leading Trustpilot score of 4.8, demonstrating the enduring strength of our customer proposition
• Robust balance sheet and strong cash position, supporting the proposed final dividend of 0.67p per share, subject to shareholder approval at today's AGM

Mark Smithson, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We've started the year well despite a very tough market back-drop with the Group's sales for the first four months up 13.7% compared with the online MDA and CE markets being down over 20% in the first months of our FY23.

We've seen strong competitive activity both in pricing and marketing, with heavy discounting of headline prices and higher cost per click marketing expenses. Despite this, we have maintained our tight control on inventory, cost management and disciplined capital allocation, ensuring we are in a healthy cash position and remaining focused on profitable market share gains.

Our differentiated operating model, leading customer service and free next day delivery provides a unique offering that sets us apart from the competition. I'm proud of the performance our team has delivered in a very challenging market. Whilst the remainder of the year is difficult to predict, our focus on maintaining a market leading customer proposition and healthy cash flow provides us with the best platform to generate continued profitable market share growth".

^{(1) Based on the Group's analysis of GfK Market Intelligence sales tracking GB data. July market data unavailable at the time of print.}

Enquiries:

Marks Electrical Group plc                                                                                 Via Dentons Global Advisors:

Mark Smithson, CEO                                                                                                            Tel: +44 (0)20 7664 5095

Josh Egan, CFO                                                                                                                  

Dentons Global Advisors (Financial PR)

Jonathan Brill                                                                                                                        Tel: +44 (0)20 7664 5095

James Styles                                                                                                                         [email protected]

Fern Duncan                                                                                                                         

Panmure Gordon (NOMAD and Joint Broker)

Oliver Cardigan, Ailsa Macmaster (Corporate Finance)                                                       Tel: +44 (0) 207 886 2500

Erik Anderson (Corporate Broking)                                                                                   

Berenberg (Joint Broker)

Matthew Armitt / Michelle Wilson / Jack Botros (UK Investment Banking)                           Tel: +44 (0) 20 3207 7800

About Marks Electrical

Marks Electrical is a fast growing, highly scalable, technology driven e-commerce electricals retailer which sells, delivers, installs and recycles a wide range of household electrical products. The Group was founded in Leicester in 1987 by Mark Smithson and has scaled up into a nationwide online retailer with a compelling growth track record, thanks to its vertically integrated, low-cost, high-quality operating model, supported by the ongoing structural shift of consumers to purchase online. The Group operates within the UK Major Domestic Appliances (MDA) and Consumer Electronics (CE) market, estimated to be worth approximately £8.0 billion.

Primarily through its simple, clear and intuitive website - markselectrical.co.uk - the Group offers over 4,000 products from over 50 leading brands across its main product categories, which include Cooking, Refrigeration, Washers & Dryers, Dishwashers and Audio-Visual. These products are sourced from UK distributors of the brands, with whom the Group maintains strong and direct relationships. Marks Electrical delivers direct to customers in its owned and branded vehicles, operated by the Group's skilled team of delivery drivers, who are also able to offer installation and recycling services.

For further information, visit the Marks Electrical corporate website: https://group.markselectrical.co.uk and its retail website: https://markselectrical.co.uk/.