Hamleys To Expand Further Into Middle East

Hamleys, the world-famous toy retailer, intends to broaden its reach into the Middle Eastern markets to sustain a record year-end festive-season performance which saw the company increase its like-for-like (LFL) sales by 11.6 per cent over 2008 within the six-week period leading to January 2, 2010. From the second quarter leading up to the last quarter of 2009, Hamleys’ LFL sales were up 7.2 per cent on 2008. The buoyant performance and cost benefits derived from a restructuring programme completed in 2009 combined to significantly boost company profits, with Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) advancing 42.8 per cent over the same period last year. 

Hamleys’ productive run extended to the Middle East, where its franchise store in Dubai (at The Dubai Mall) run by partner Retail Arabia International reported a festive-season LFL sales increase of 54 per cent – boosted in part due to the fact that Hamleys at The Dubai Mall was the exclusive regional retailer of Ben 10 Alien Force merchandise.

Commenting on the performance, Gudjon Reynisson, CEO of Hamleys, said: We are delighted with the performance of the business during this important trading period and for the whole financial year. The festive-season sales figures were very strong with our flagship store in Regent Street having its best season on record and we are also very pleased with the strong performance in our new flagship store in the St.Enoch Centre in Glasgow where sales significantly exceeded our expectations.”

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