15 April 2026, 7:00am · Results

Preliminary results for FY26

Swift & Hale plc (SWH)

Swift & Hale plc, the walking and camping retailer, announces its results for the 52 weeks to 31 January 2026 (FY26). Revenue rose 6.8% to £418.6m and adjusted profit before tax rose 13.5% to £31.2m.

Financial highlights

Adjusted measures, like-for-like sales, free cash flow and net cash are alternative performance measures, defined in note 2 below. Net cash excludes lease liabilities of £118.4m (FY25 £116.0m).

Operational highlights

• Six stores opened, in Hexham, Builth Wells, Oban, Okehampton, Bakewell and Westport, and two city-centre stores closed when their leases ended. 128 stores at the year end (FY25 124).
• Online sales were 36% of the total (FY25 33%). The app took 44% of online sales, and customers collected 41% of online orders from a store.
• Hale and Swift, our own brands, rose to 61% of sales (FY25 59%).
• The Swift & Hale Club grew to 2.1 million members (FY25 1.8 million), who bought 64% of everything we sold. Net promoter score 72 (FY25 70).
• Our benches completed 48,000 repairs (FY25 39,000). Eight new benches took the total to 41 stores, and Hale Again sold 6,200 pre-owned and refurbished items.
• Stores led 3,100 walks for Club members, and schools and youth groups made 19,000 hire bookings.
• The Huntworth distribution centre has served every store and online order from one stock pool since March 2025. We left the old Poundbury warehouse in September 2025.
• Scope 1 and 2 market-based emissions fell 19% to 1,120 tCO2e.

Chief Executive's comment

Tom Penhallow, Chief Executive, said:

"The weather changed its mind all year. Tents sold early in a dry spring, August rain stopped late-summer camping, and then a cold, wet autumn brought people in for waterproofs and boots. We opened six stores in towns that walkers pass through on their way out, finished the move to Huntworth and mended 48,000 items of kit. I thank every colleague who made that happen. FY27 has started with like-for-like sales up 3.2%, and we have six more stores to open."

Current trading and outlook

Like-for-like sales in the first ten weeks of FY27 are up 3.2%. In FY27 we plan to:

• open six stores, in Settle, Dolgellau, Pitlochry, Kendal, Buxton and Killarney;
• add six repair benches, take Hale Again to ten more stores and lead more than 3,300 walks;
• bring in the new merchandise planning system in stages, starting with footwear, and run old and new processes side by side until each stage is proven;
• spend £24m to £26m on capital projects.

Pay will again be our largest cost increase, with an average rise of 4.5% across the workforce from April 2026. We expect an effective tax rate of about 26%. The weather will move sales from month to month, as it always does. We expect adjusted profit before tax for FY27 to be in line with current market expectations.

Final dividend

The board proposes a final dividend of 6.2p per share (FY25 5.6p). With the interim dividend of 3.0p paid in November 2025, the total for the year is 9.2p (FY25 8.4p), up 9.5% and covered 2.8 times by adjusted earnings per share. Our policy is a progressive dividend covered 2.5 to 3 times.

If shareholders approve it at the AGM on 18 June 2026, the final dividend will be paid on 3 July 2026 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 29 May 2026. The ex-dividend date is 28 May 2026.

Capital allocation

Our priorities are unchanged. We invest first in stores, refits, repair and systems where we can see a clear return, then pay a progressive dividend, then return surplus cash to shareholders. The board will consider a share buyback if net cash stays above about £30m through the seasonal low point in October, when autumn and winter stock has been paid for and Christmas trading has not yet come in. Net cash fell below £30m in October 2025, so we are not proposing a buyback this year. The board will look at it again with the half-year results in September 2026.

Chief Executive's review

Like-for-like sales grew 4.1%: 5.0% in the first half and 3.3% in the second. A dry spring and a warm June sold tents early. August was wet and late-summer camping fell away, and then a cold, wet autumn brought customers in for waterproofs, boots and warm layers. Flasks, head torches and socks led a good Christmas. We went into January with less surplus stock, so the clearance sale was smaller than the year before.

The board reviewed the strategy during the year and kept the same four priorities.

Closer to the path

Each of the six new stores is in a town that walkers and campers pass through on their way out, and Oban and Westport are already trading ahead of plan. We closed Swindon and Reading when their leases ended. New stores pay back in an average of 2.6 years, against our target of under three, and we aim to have 150 stores by FY30.

Kit that lasts

Repairs rose to 48,000 from 39,000, with an average turnaround of nine days. Our product team designs new Hale jackets and packs around a short list of standard zips and buckles that every bench keeps in stock. 68% of own-brand units used recycled or lower-impact materials (FY25 57%). Our targets are 75,000 repairs a year by FY29 and 85% lower-impact materials by FY28.

More people outside

Club members get free repairs on own-brand kit, members' prices and a place on led walks. Stores led 3,100 walks (FY25 2,800), and schools and youth groups made 19,000 hire bookings at reduced rates (FY25 16,500). The Path Fund, paid for by 1p from every Club purchase and a share of hire income, gave £420,000 to 37 footpath, access and outdoor education projects. We aim to reach 3 million members by FY29.

A simpler business

A colleague in our smallest store can now order anything in the Huntworth stock pool for a customer and have it sent to the store or to the customer's home. Online availability was 97.2% and stock turn 2.2 times, against a target of 2.4 times by FY28. Next-day delivery was on time for 94% of orders, and most of the late ones came in the December peak. We have added sortation capacity and changed carrier collection times before this year's peak.

Colleagues

Every colleague is paid at least the real Living Wage. Colleague engagement rose to 81% (FY25 80%), store turnover fell to 24% (FY25 27%) and RIDDOR-reportable incidents fell to 11 (FY25 14). After colleagues in our smaller stores raised safety when working alone, we changed rotas at 31 of them so that nobody opens or closes alone, and gave colleagues at the other seven personal alarms.

Financial review

Revenue

Equipment grew fastest of the product categories on first-half camping sales. Footwear and waterproofs both gained from the cold, wet autumn. Services (boot fitting, repairs, hire and led walks) grew 11.2%. Store sales understate the stores' part in the business, because orders collected in store count as online.

Like-for-like growth of 4.1%, plus 2.5 percentage points from new stores net of closures and 0.2 points from currency translation of Irish sales, gave revenue growth of 6.8%.

Gross margin

Gross margin rose 50 basis points to 52.4%. A higher share of own brands added about 30bps and lower freight rates about 30bps: we agreed most of the year's container contracts in early 2025. Less clearance added about 20bps. A weaker pound against the US dollar in the second half took off about 30bps. We buy about 38% of our cost of goods in dollars and hedge up to 12 months ahead.

Operating costs

Adjusted operating costs rose 6.3% to £182.8m and fell to 43.7% of revenue (FY25 43.8%). Staff costs rose 8.2% to £96.4m. The National Living Wage rose 6.7% in April 2025, and employer National Insurance changes added about £2.3m. Running one stock pool at Huntworth saved about £2.4m against the old two-site network, and energy costs fell by about £0.9m. Adjusted operating profit rose 15.5% to £36.5m, a margin of 8.7% (FY25 8.1%).

Adjusting items

Adjusting items before tax were £2.3m (FY25 £1.7m). Our annual store review led to impairment of £2.1m at four stores, mostly in larger town centres, and reversals of £0.6m at two stores where trading has recovered, a net charge of £1.5m. Leaving the Poundbury warehouse cost £0.8m. FY25's adjusting item was £1.7m of dual running costs during the move to Huntworth.

Finance costs, tax and earnings

Net finance costs were £5.3m (FY25 £4.1m), mostly interest on lease liabilities. The tax charge was £7.5m, an effective rate of 26.0%. Basic earnings per share rose 12.4% to 23.6p and adjusted basic earnings per share 15.6% to 25.9p.

Cash flow and net cash

Capital expenditure of £23.4m paid for the six new stores (£6.0m), 14 refits (£5.4m), eight repair benches (£0.8m), automation at Huntworth (£4.1m), the app, website and first stage of the merchandise planning system (£5.1m) and maintenance (£2.0m).

We ended the year with no borrowings. The £40m revolving credit facility is committed to September 2028 with an option to extend and was not drawn at any point in the year. Liquidity, meaning cash plus the undrawn facility, was £76.4m.

Going concern

The directors have assessed going concern to 30 April 2027. In the most severe scenario tested, which combines two wet summers, a four-week cyber attack and a sharp fall in consumer spending, liquidity headroom stays above £25m before any mitigating action and the facility is not needed. The directors have identified no material uncertainty.

Principal risks

The board has identified ten principal risks. Product safety and regulation, until now part of the sourcing risk, is shown separately for the first time. The risks from freight costs and currency, cyber security and technology change have increased, and the risk to pay, recruitment and retention has fallen as store turnover came down.

1. Weather and seasonality
2. Consumer spending
3. Sourcing, supply chain and ethical trade
4. Freight costs and currency
5. Cyber security and customer data
6. Technology change, including the merchandise planning system
7. Colleagues: pay, recruitment and retention
8. Climate change
9. Store estate and property
10. Product safety and regulation

The Annual Report and Accounts 2026 describes each risk and how we manage it.

Consolidated income statement

Consolidated balance sheet

Consolidated cash flow statement

Notes

1. The financial information above does not constitute the company's statutory accounts for the periods ended 31 January 2026 or 1 February 2025. Statutory accounts for FY25 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies, and those for FY26 will be delivered after the AGM. The auditor, Penrose Lyle LLP, has reported on both. Its reports were unqualified and did not contain a statement under section 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006. The board approved this announcement on 14 April 2026.
2. We use alternative performance measures alongside IFRS measures. Adjusted measures exclude adjusting items. Like-for-like sales growth compares sales from stores that have traded for at least 52 weeks, plus online sales, at constant currency. Free cash flow is net cash from operating activities less capital expenditure and lease payments, plus net other interest. Net cash is cash less borrowings and excludes lease liabilities. Each measure is defined and reconciled in the Annual Report and Accounts 2026.
3. The Annual Report and Accounts 2026 will be published on 7 May 2026, with the notice of the AGM.

Results presentation

Tom Penhallow and Anjali Mercer will present the results to analysts by video call at 9.30am today. A recording is available on request from investor relations.

About Swift & Hale

Swift & Hale has sold walking and camping kit since Peggy Swift and Martin Hale opened their first shop in Dorchester in 1973. It has 128 stores in the UK and Ireland, mostly in market towns near national parks and trails, a website, an app and a printed catalogue. Its own brands are Hale, the durable range with a lifetime repair promise on waterproofs and packs, and Swift, the lightweight range.

Cautionary statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. The directors make them in good faith, based on the information available to them today. They relate to future events, involve risk and uncertainty, and actual results may differ materially. Swift & Hale will not update them except where law or regulation requires it. Nothing in this announcement is a profit forecast.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the UK Market Abuse Regulation. The person responsible for arranging its release on behalf of Swift & Hale plc is Claire Hollins, Company Secretary.

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