How have card retailers been affected by the coronavirus pandemic?
PA
29 January 2021, 12:55 pm
Coronavirus restrictions have stopped many people from seeing their friends and relatives over the past year.
But people have still been keen to stay in touch, with strong card and gift sales as people seek to give their loved ones a boost.
The Royal Mail said they were expecting a particularly busy Christmas for cards as a result, but people’s traditional shopping habits were affected by restrictions.
As a result, the sector has seen a period of rapid change as customers found new places to buy cards and gifts and traditional stores shook up their models.
As for profits, Vistry will arrive at £140m-ish for 2020, a fall on 2019 but at the top end of expectations. And, since there has been “no impact” so far from the third lockdown, the company expects an increase in profits to £310m in 2021. Dividends are also coming back. Chief executive Greg Fitzgerald now says he is “less concerned” about the end of the stamp-duty holiday.
Rishi Sunak, let’s hope, will draw the obvious conclusion: Treasury support is best directed at those sectors that are genuinely suffering in lockdown – think hospitality and events. We won’t hold our breath but it would be nice if housebuilding’s lobbyists conceded it is time to step off the subsidy treadmill.
After a rollercoaster year on the stock market, The Mail on Sunday s City team reveal which shares they will be following in 2021 – and assess whether their hunches from 12 months ago delivered the goods. or got hammered by the Covid lockdowns.
Hamish McRae has picked Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian mining and minerals giant
Hamish McRae, City Columnist
Rio Tinto: Last year was miserable for the Footsie as a whole and I am afraid miserable for bank shares, including my tip Barclays.
Of course, I failed to foresee the pandemic and ban on bank dividends. The first was bad enough, but the latter delivered a hammer blow to shareholders. The great question now is whether the switch from growth stocks to value ones will be sustained.
On The Beach
Simon Cooper started out in the travel business selling ski holidays in the Alps in his university days through his cheekily-named business On The Piste.
These days he runs On The Beach, the holiday specialist he founded in 2004 selling trips through Teletext via Red Button.
Britons may be putting off the traditional January rush to book expensive summer trips, but Cooper himself appears well set to splash out. He recently sold £14million of stock in On The Beach after a rally in its share price.
Sources said investor demand prompted the chunky sale, his first since 2016.
He still holds a 5 per cent stake, so it s not time to snooze on the sun lounger just yet.
Dudley boy wins Funky Pigeon s Junior Designer 2020 competition for his Christmas card design
Hayden Beck s card is now available to buy on Funky Pigeon s website with 30% of the sale being donated to key workers
Hayden Beck who won Funky Pigeon s Junior Designer 2020 competition for his Christmas card design
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