Discount retailer The Works has announced it plans to create 600 new jobs and open 60 new stores over the next 12 months, as it focusses on delivering further trend-bucking growth.

Strong growth on- and offline

The Birmingham-headquartered company, which sells arts & crafts, books, toys and stationery, has enjoyed strong on and offline growth, opening new stores both on the high street and in out-of-town locations at a rate of one a week.

It currently has 398 stores across the UK and plans to grow its estate to 650 stores by 2022.

Over the next 12 months the value retailer will be investing a total of £5.3m to open 60 new stores across the UK.

It will also spend an additional £1m on rebranding and refurbishing its existing store estate as it looks to sustain current levels of growth and ensure all of its stores deliver a great customer experience.

Ten years of continued progress

This latest spend follows a ten year period of sustained growth for the multi-channel operator, with latest figures from the year to April 30, 2016, showing:

• Sales up 9 per cent to £154m

• Earnings before interest, taxation and amortisation were £12.7m, up a third on the previous year

• The Works served 28m customers in stores and there were 19m visitors to its website in the same period

• Last 12 months have seen the retailer invest £9m in 63 new stores and a new purpose-built store support office and distribution centre in the West Midlands

• New distribution centre has tripled its warehouse capacity and is capable of supporting 1,000 stores

‘Exciting times’

Kevin Keaney, CEO of The Works, said:

“These are exciting times for The Works. Our discount proposition, coupled with our huge range of exciting products, is proving a real hit with consumers and helping us to continue rapid growth even when overall spending confidence is low.

In contrast with many other retailers, we’re seeing surging sales on the high street, with plans to grow our estate by a further 60 stores over the next 12 months.

We’re also experiencing fantastic growth online, with online sales growing by 35% over the last year.

We’re bucking the trend and committed to sustaining this growth through further investment over the next 12 months and beyond, as we deliver our plan to become one of retails best growth stories.”

Alongside Kevin Keaney, The Works is led by Dean Hoyle, founder of Card Factory and one of the UK’s best-known retail entrepreneurs, who joined in 2015 as chairman and investor.

Fellow board members include CFO Vicky Norris, Tony Barraclough, former property director at Card Factory, and James Woolley, portfolio partner of private equity house and The Works investor, Endless LLP.

Pictured above: Kevin Keaney, CEO of The Works