Angling Direct : Annual Report 2024

Angling Direct Plc

Getting Everyone Fishing

Annual Report and

Financial Statements - 31 January 2024

Strategic report - Running head continued

1. Strategic report

Key highlights	2
Chairman's statement	4
At a glance	8
Chief Executive Officer's statement	10
What we do	18
Chief Financial Officer's statement	24
s172 statement	30
Principal risks and uncertainties	33
Sustainability, social and environmental responsibilities	39

2. Governance report

Corporate governance report	42
Directors' report	52
Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting ('SECR')	55
Directors' responsibilities statement	57

3. Financial statements

Report of the independent auditors
to the members of Angling Direct PLC	60
Consolidated statement of profit or loss and other
comprehensive income	64
Consolidated statement of financial position	65
Consolidated statement of changes in equity	66
Consolidated statement of cash flows	67
Notes to the consolidated financial statements	68
Company statement of financial position	95
Company statement of changes in equity	96
Notes to the company financial statements	97
Company directory	111

View online at: www.anglingdirect.co.uk/corporate

2 Angling Direct PLC | Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024

Getting Everyone

Fishing

"We have a strategy to become Europe's largest fishing club by inspiring and delighting increasing numbers of customers, focusing on sustainable profitable growth and enhancing local fishing communities. This will generate sustainable value for all stakeholders as we create a better world for anglers, fisheries, supply partners and all those who love the pastime."

Steve Crowe

CEO

Angling Direct PLC | Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024

1

Strategic report - FY24 highlights

Key highlights

10.2%

Sales growth

10.5%

Gross profit growth

21.0%

Pre IFRS 16 EBITDA growth

+£6.5m

Operating cashflow

Our key objective for FY24 was to accelerate our UK sales and earnings growth momentum by improving customer choice and experience through whichever channel they choose. This was supported by the launch of MyAD, our omni-channel customer loyalty scheme, the cornerstone to our vision to build Europe's largest fishing club. MyAD reached a membership in excess of 220,000 at the year end. Outside of the UK, we continued to take share across all key markets, balancing our two key objectives of achieving growth and improving profitability.

Overall, our sales revenues grew by 10.2% to £81.7m despite the continued consumer headwinds. Our gross profit grew 10.5% as our agile trading approach resulted in the Group over indexing its gross margin growth above its sales growth. The Group continued to closely steward cashflows whilst continuing to invest, to build further resilience into the business and also enhance the platform for innovation and future growth.

2 Angling Direct PLC | Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024

Revenue (£m)

Pre-IFRS 16 EBITDA (£m)

Gross profit (£m)

10.2%

21.0%

10.5%

growth

growth

growth

FY24

81.7

FY24

2.7

FY24

28.5

FY23

74.1

FY23

2.2

FY23

25.8

FY22

26.6

FY22

72.5

FY22

5.2

Profit before tax (£m)

Operating cash flow (£m)

MyAD membership

126.8%

319.1%

220,000

movement

movement

movement

FY24

1.5

FY24

6.5

FY24

220,000

FY23

FY23

FY23

1.5

0.7

FY22

FY22

FY22

4.8

4.0

UK store conversion

UK Website customer conversion

European Website customer

250bps

rate (%)

3bps

conversion rate (%)

81bps

movement

movement

movement

Strategic report

Governance

Financial statements

FY24

FY23

FY22

61.4% FY24

58.9%FY23

FY22

		6.7	FY24
		6.7	FY23
				FY22
	6.4

3.5

2.7

1.9

See pages 14 to 15 for definitions

Angling Direct PLC | Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024

3

Strategic report - Chairman's statement

Andy Torrance

Non-Executive Chairman

Chairman's statement

"Angling Direct has once again achieved record sales, winning new customers attracted by the continued development of

a market leading, contemporary, omni- channel consumer proposition."

Introduction

I am delighted to present my first Chair's statement having moved from my Chief Executive role in June 2023 following the Annual General Meeting. Angling Direct has once again achieved record sales, winning new customers attracted by the continued development of a market leading, contemporary, omni-channel consumer proposition. We are pleased to have achieved this performance despite ongoing pressure on consumer discretionary spend in a sustained inflationary environment.

Amid strong signs that fishing tackle markets in both the UK and Europe continue to consolidate, Angling Direct maintains its strategy of appropriately and prudently investing where the opportunity exists to increase market share. We remain focused on our strong purpose of

'Getting Everyone Fishing', as we believe everyone should have the opportunity to get out by the waterside and experience the proven wellbeing benefits of angling.

Staying true to our rigorous investment criteria, we progressed our UK store roll-out with the opening of two new stores in the year.

We maintained our considered and prudent approach to investing in our European business, with our focus on improving trading margins and operational efficiencies, while also achieving good growth and share gain in the key territories of this large and attractive market.

Digitally, the launch of MyAD, our new omni-channel customer loyalty scheme, exceeded our expectations with over 220,000 customer sign ups in its first year. MyAD is unique in our market, allowing customers to access

4 Angling Direct PLC | Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024

a range of benefits and content, including differentiated pricing as well as increasingly targeted offers and promotions. We have made considerable effort to introduce and leverage retail AI technology into several areas of our offering including paid advertising, product recommendations and customer services.

Finally, I am delighted that we have our strong executive leadership team in place, as Steve Crowe, previously CFO, replaced me as CEO in June 2023 and Sam Copeman joined as the Group's new CFO in June, working alongside Steve. The Board is very pleased with how well Steve and Sam have transitioned into their new roles and look forward to them leading the Company through its next exciting phase of profitable growth.

People & community

One of our strong founding principles is that we should help improve the angling experience for everyone who engages with us. Our continued focus on 'Getting Everyone Fishing' is important to everyone at Angling Direct as we want to ensure that the Group has a positive impact on the sustainable health of angling as a pastime with all the associated benefits for our employees, suppliers, shareholders, local communities, and the environment.

Our success is in no small way due to the dedication and enthusiasm of our superb colleagues who share our vision and are passionate in delivering the very best experience to our angling community. Our outstanding colleagues are key to all we do, and we endeavour to support them with our ambition to be the best employer in our sector, not only in terms of reward but also in caring for wellbeing and fulfilment.

We continue to support the Angling Trust as lead sponsors for the "Get Fishing" campaign, which last year engaged over 27,000 new participants.

We endorse the wide-ranging evidence that fishing can be a great way to improve all round wellbeing and we support bodies set up to encourage and enable those with disabilities, of any kind, to benefit from fishing. We have been particularly focused on supporting Tackling Minds, a rapidly growing Community Interest Company focused on using fishing to help improve mental health.

Strategic report

Governance

Financial statements

Financial overview

The Group achieved a record revenue of £81.7m in the financial year to 31 January 2024 (2023: £74.1m, up 10.2%).

Store sales increased by 7.6% to £44.4m (2023 £41.3m) and online sales increased by 13.5% to £37.2m from £32.8m. Within this, UK online sales increased by 11.1% to £32.9m, achieving a return to growth. Significantly, UK online sales are now 62.8% above pre-Covid levels, illustrating the advancements we have made in that area of our business.

As a result of our continuing focus on realising operational efficiencies, and despite a number of headwinds facing the broader market, the Group delivered pre IFRS 16 EBITDA of £2.7m (2023: £2.2m) and a pre-tax profit of £1.5m (2023: £0.7m). The Group ended the year with a strong balance sheet and net cash of £15.8m as at 31 January 2024 (2023: £14.1m).

£81.7m

Record revenues

Record revenues grew 10.2%

£15.8m

Cash

Angling Direct PLC | Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024

5

Strategic report - Chairman's statement continued

Looking ahead

Since the year end, we have opened 3 stores in the UK and our first European store, being a mix of new stores as well as acquiring, smaller footprint existing fishing tackle stores in new catchments. This takes our total to 50 UK stores and one European store, with further UK openings in the pipeline through the year.

I am particularly pleased that we have opened our first store in Utrecht, the Netherlands, following the establishment of our European distribution centre which commenced deliveries in March 2022. The opening of this store is a significant milestone for Angling Direct, enabling our European customers to participate in the full

Angling Direct omni-channel proposition. We know from our experience in the UK that our physical stores and amazing colleagues act as great ambassadors for our brand, and we expect the new store to complement our digital business within the EU.

For Angling Direct the last four years have seen a period of significant growth and a return to profitability. After a huge amount of organisational change, we are now firmly embedded as the clear UK market leader and have established a growing strategic presence within key markets in Europe. For consumers, the challenging economic environment will continue into this year, and we are not immune to greater than anticipated UK government policy driven cost inflation.

"We are now firmly embedded as the clear UK market leader and have established a growing strategic presence within key markets in Europe."

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+16%

Own brand gross profit growth

However, our strength lies in being laser focused on providing the very best for our customers, in the most cost-efficient way. Whilst rates of market consolidation are difficult to forecast, we anticipate that opportunities will arise for those businesses, such as Angling Direct, that are prepared and capable of seizing and delivering upon them. With our strong balance sheet and experienced management team, we are well placed and ready to progress our growth strategy by capitalising on such opportunities, benefiting our colleagues, our shareholders, the angling community, the wider society and, not least, the environment.

Board changes

Following my move to Chair and the aforementioned CEO and CFO changes in the year, I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to our founder, Martyn Page, who stepped down from his role as Non-Executive Chairman to become a Non- Executive Director. As a Board and on behalf of the Group, we are delighted that Martyn has remained on the Board, continuing to offer wisdom and guidance, in turn helping the

business to stay firmly on course with our strategic aims, our beliefs, purpose and culture. There were no other Non-Executive Director changes in the year, providing continuity to the board.

The current year has already got off to an exciting start and we look forward to updating shareholders on strategic progress as we continue to grow our market share in the UK and Europe, both in store and online.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Torrance

Non-Executive Chairman

13 May 2024

Strategic report

Governance

Financial statements

Angling Direct PLC | Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024

7

Strategic report - At a glance

At a glance

We are by some way the largest omni-channel specialist fishing tackle retailer in the UK, with a fast-growing presence in Europe. Our five websites attract more than eight million visitors each year, with online transactions fulfilled from either our UK or European distribution centres. At peak, over 32,000 transactions are completed each week in our stores.

Our store teams are a vital touch point between Angling Direct and our local fishing communities. Our colleagues are angling specialists with an infectious enthusiasm for fishing. For our customers, our stores complement our leading digital presence, providing market leading, hands-on service, advice and inspiration, as well as a real sense of community.

Our best-in-class websites and trading app, serving angling customers, and our social media channels extend our reach to a growing number of anglers throughout the UK and Europe, providing contemporary digital content and access to thousands of quality fishing tackle products. Orders are seamlessly fulfilled, in many cases next day.

Our UK MyAD loyalty and repeat purchase proposition has grown to 220,000 members since launch in June 2023, enabling us to reward loyalty by offering the most compelling product offers, exclusive deals, money cannot buy competitions and content.

New stores FY24  Total stores FY24

Distribution centre

8 Angling Direct PLC | Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024