Land of Leather ramps up expansion plans

Sofa specialist Land of Leather has set new targets to accelerate its expansion strategy after posting robust profits.

Strong sales from new stores and improvement in margins helped profits before tax and exceptional items jump 18 per cent to£18.5 million for the year to July 29.

Land of Leather, which has 103 stores at present, has upped its target from 140 stores by 2012 to 160 stores by 2013.

For the year to July 29, Land of Leather opened 13 stores and has opened a further nine since the year end. It is set to open 15 in the new financial year.

Revenue during the period climbed 17 per cent to£240 million and total sales-order growth soared 21 per cent, with like-for-like sales-order growth up 0.3 per cent.

The challenging trading environment since December 2006, following five interest rate rises, has prompted the retailer to up its ad spend from£16.5 million to£22 million this year.

Land of Leather chairman Roger Matthews said: “We anticipate that market conditions will be even more challenging in the year ahead as the full impact of the upward momentum in interest rates is felt by the consumer. This will be particularly noticeable in the first quarter of the year due to the strong trading comparatives in the previous year.”