Highs and lows on the high street

Direct Golf has reported it is on target for a record financial year after posting increased year-on-year growth for the tenth consecutive month. Turnover was up 27 percent for June, compared with the same month last year, the ninth consecutive month of the company’s current financial year that figures have shown an improvement, with sales now 25 percent up for the financial year to date.

The company states that it is to continue its store opening programme. Earlier this year a new store opened in Southampton, as part of the expansion plan, which will double the number of stores from 20 to 40 by 2018. A £500,000 investment in store refurbishment across the country has also seen the introduction of new apparel and footwear departments plus a ‘brand shop in shop experience’.

Chain founder John Andrew stated, “I’m delighted that Direct Golf is continuing to defy the overall downward trend in the golf industry while outperforming our competitors. It’s a very competitive marketplace and you have to get everything right to flourish and it’s testament to our staff and senior management team that we are able to target continued growth of the business in this way.”

Meanwhile it has been reported that American Golf has suffered a half year pre-tax loss of £952,000, following costs incurred in restructuring the retail chain. American Golf with 103 stores is owned by private equity firm Sun Capital Partners. Last year Alan Fort, an expert retail restructuring specialist was brought in as CEO, together with a new chief financial officer.

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A graduate of Cardiff University’s highly respected post-graduate magazine journalism course, Andy has successfully edited four different publications across the B2B, trade and consumer sectors. He is skilled at all aspects of the magazine process in addition to editing websites and managing social media channels.