Gear4music trading in line as it focuses on cost reductions

(Sharecast News) - Musical instrument and equipment retailer Gear4music said in an update on Friday that trading in the financial year to date had been in line with the board's expectations. The AIM-traded firm, which was holding its annual general meeting, said that as it said in a statement on 20 June, it was prioritising increasing gross margins and cost base reduction to improve profitability, ahead of revenue growth.

Chief executive officer Andrew Wass said the company was pleased with the progress being made in those areas, which included driving significant cost efficiencies in its software development unit.

"Our recently-launched second hand system is trading well and continues to show signs of being a long-term growth driver, having successfully facilitated several thousand trade-ins since its March debut," Wass explained.

"During the last few weeks, we have also launched the system into our European markets, and we are confident it will evolve to become a meaningful component of the group's future revenue portfolio."

Gear4music said it was planning to release a trading update for the six months ending 30 September on 19 October, followed by half-year results on 14 November, at which time further details of improved gross margins and the underlying cost reductions achieved would be shared.

At 1324 BST, shares in Gear4music Holdings were up 25.71% at 110p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.