Outdoor retailer Mountain Warehouse made a splash today as profits boomed following the flooding this year and it unveiled a step-up in its international growth plans.
Founder and chief executive Mark Neale said better-quality, premium own-brand products and appealing to “everyday people walking the dog, not people climbing Mount Everest” had spurred sales.
The 186-stores retailer sold one million waterproof jackets and a bucketful of waterproof trousers and wellies during the year as floods submerged the south of England in February and gave the firm a fillip.
The walking boots-to-backpacks specialist, which is headquartered in Victoria, posted a 44% increase in operating profit to £8.2 million as sales at shops open longer than a year shot up 13% in the year to February 28.
The company intends to invest in expansion overseas and is searching for shops in the Netherlands and Germany to add to its stores in Poland, Austria and Ireland.
Neale led a management buyout of minority shareholder Lloyds Banking Group’s private-equity arm in an £85 million deal in October after four rounds of private-equity funding since the company’s inception in 1999.
Neale said sky-high London rents have precluded expansion on its four stores in the capital and forced it to close its High Street Kensington store two years ago but said its shops are bustling with custom across the country.
