Norfolk’s largest independent furniture and furnishings retailer Aldiss has reported sales uplifts at both delivered and intake levels for the year ending 1 October 2022.

The reported year was the first since 2019 not to be directly impacted by Covid related closures. Strong intake figures and the partial unwinding of a record order book resulted in delivered sales of over £19.9m, which was 22% up on the prior year.

Gross margin improvements of 100 basis points and controlled costs improved the bottom line by 33%, with profit before tax reported at £845,000.

Despite strong delivered sales, the order book at year end remained over £4m, an historically high figure. This flow through of comprehensive income along with deposits held on the order book helped to improve the balance sheet by almost £650,000.

Darryl Simpson, Managing Director, commented: “Having weathered the pandemic period and ensuing supply and operational issues, the year to October 22, brought its own challenges in fulfilling strong customer demand and the enhanced order book.

“The current trading year, with cost-of-living pressures impacting customers and increased operating costs, brings further headwinds, however the business is in a good position to trade through this period, benefiting from a strong order book, coupled with operating cost efficiencies derived from a significant investment programme fully supported, as ever, by the owning Aldiss family.”