The card specialist posted a 4.4% fall in pre-tax profit to £65.2m in the year to January 31, down 11.8% on an underlying basis to £67.2m. Revenue during the period rose 3.6% to £451.5m, but was down 0.5% on like-for-like terms.

The retailer, which opened a net 50 new stores during the year is planning on reopening 10% of its stores on June 15 in order to test trading under “Covid-secure” conditions. The retailer has said that it will reopen further stores following that date “subject to early learnings”.

Card Factory’s store estate is currently closed under government guidance as a ‘non-essential’ retailer and 90% of its staff are furloughed, but online sales have soared during the period. The card specialist’s ecommerce sales have more than trebled sine lockdown began and are up 153% year to date.