12 November 2026
TheWorks plc
("The Works", the "Company" or the "Group")
Half Year Trading Update
Further upgrade to FY27 pre-IFRS 16 Adjusted EBITDA expectations reflects strong like for like sales growth of 9.8%
The Works, the UK's leading specialist retailer of affordable, screen-free activities for the whole family, announces a Trading Update for the 26 weeks ended 1 November 2026 (the “Period” or “H1 FY27”).
Trading Update
The Works delivered a strong performance in H1 FY27, with effective execution of the Group’s Elevating The Works growth strategy driving increased customer demand for its differentiated, screen-free proposition.
Total sales from continuing operations1 increased 10.1% to £128.8m (H1 FY26: £117.0m) with like for like sales (“LFLs”) increasing by 9.8% (H1 FY26: 4.0%). This was driven by growth across each of the Group’s core categories, reflecting the growing year-round appeal of its screen-free proposition, and represented significant outperformance against the wider UK non-food retail market, which declined by 1.0%2.
The Group delivered product margin in line with expectations of 62.7% (H1 FY26: 62.5%) and maintained a disciplined focus on costs. The Group ended the Period with £3.5m of net cash (H1 FY26: net debt of £5.3m), driven by increased levels of profit as well as improved stock management.
Outlook
The Board is encouraged by the strong trading momentum and market outperformance in the first half of the year, which positions the Company well for the key Christmas trading period.
As a result of the Group’s performance, the Board now expects pre-IFRS 16 Adjusted EBITDA for the current financial year to be ahead of market expectations3 and at least £17.0m. This upgrade, together with the upgrade announced by the Group on 7 September 2026, represents an increase in FY27 pre-IFRS 16 Adjusted EBITDA of more than 13.0% since the start of the financial year.
Gavin Peck, Chief Executive Officer of The Works, commented: “We are delighted to report a strong H1 performance with like for like sales growth of 9.8%, driven by strong customer demand across all our key categories. We also delivered strong performances during the Back to School and Halloween trading periods.
“Reflecting this, we are further upgrading our FY27 pre-IFRS 16 Adjusted EBITDA expectations, to at least £17.0m. This outcome is a testament to the continued progress towards achieving our 5 year plan, the growing year-round appeal of our differentiated screen-free proposition, simplified store-focused model, and the hard work and commitment of our colleagues.
“We are well positioned as we enter the key Christmas trading period and focussed on giving our customers more inspiration and choice for enjoying Time Well Spent together this Christmas.”
1 On 20 March 2026, the Board announced its strategic decision to cease the trading of the Group’s online channel and transition to a non-transactional website. Subsequently, the performance of the online channel has therefore been presented as a discontinued operation and has been excluded in this announcement.
2 Data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed non-food retail LFL decline of 1.0% (store performance only) or growth of 0.6% (store and online performance) for the six months to 31 October 2026.
3 Prior to this announcement, Company guidance for FY27 pre-IFRS 16 Adjusted EBITDA was £16.0m. FY27 pre-IFRS 16 Adjusted EBITDA is before expected costs of approximately £1.0m relating to the circa £6.0m systems transformation programme the Group is conducting over the next four years, for which costs will be treated as adjusting items, as previously announced.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the retained UK version of the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 ("UK MAR").
ENDS
Enquiries
The Works Gavin Peck, CEO Rosie Fordham, CFO | Via Hudson Sandler |
Hudson Sandler – Financial PR Alex Brennan Lucy Wollam | 020 7796 4133 |
Singer Capital Markets – Nomad and broker Peter Steel Sara Hale | 020 7496 3000 |
About The Works
The Works is the UK's leading specialist retailer of affordable, screen-free activities for the whole family, providing customers with fantastic value across four product categories: arts and crafts, stationery, toys and games, and books.
The Group operates a network of over 500 stores in the UK & Ireland.
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