Direct Golf putts its best foot forward on sales

GOLF retailer Direct Golf is on the fairway for a record financial year after unveiling year-on-year sales growth for the ninth consecutive month.

Direct Golf enjoyed months of consecutive profit making. Picture: Neil Hanna

Turnover at the group, which owns John Letters Golf, one of Scotland’s oldest golf club makers, lifted sales 27 per cent in June – giving it sales growth of 25 per cent for the financial year so far.

Including the final month of its previous financial year, Direct Golf, whose 20-plus outlets include sites in Edinburgh and Dundee, has registered ten months of successive growth. The company, which has announced plans to have 40 shops by 2018, was set up in 1991 by PGA Fellow professional John Andrew, who is due to attend the forthcoming St Andrews Open Championship week.

Andrew, who is also the owner of the company, said: “I’m delighted that Direct Golf is continuing to defy the overall downward trend in the golf industry while outperforming our competitors.

“It’s a very competitive marketplace and you have to get everything right to flourish and it’s testament to our staff and senior management team that we are able to be targeting continued growth of the business in this way.”

The group has said it will continue to invest in “bricks-and-mortar and online retailing”, with at least one more new outlet scheduled for 2015.

Earlier this year, the retailer, which claims to cut manufacturers’ recommended retail prices by up to 70 per cent, opened a new store in Southampton – its southern-most outlet.