YORK musical instrument retailers Gear4Music has seen sales soar beyone the £80 million mark after growing international sales by almost 70 per cent.

The Holgate-based business issued its year-end trading statement which revealed a 43 per cent increase in overall revenues.

For the 12 month period to February 28, 2018, the business saw UK sales rise 27 per cent to 44.3 million, while sales to Europe and the rest of the world leaped 69 per cent to £35.8 million.

Gear4music’s chief executive Officer Andrew Wass, said: “We are very pleased to have grown our revenues from £56 million last year to £80 million this year, particularly given the heightened economic uncertainty that has impacted many retailers during the last 12 months.

“As previously communicated, in 2017 we focused on scaling-up our business to ensure we have the capacity for further growth, investing into our European distribution centres, our new head office in York, and expanding our platform development capability.

“EBITDA (earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) for the second half of FY18 will be ahead of the six-month period ended 28 February 2017, although as a result of the investments we have made during the year into our customer proposition, infrastructure, staff, systems and marketing, we expect EBITDA for the full financial year ended 28 February 2018 to be in line with our FY17 result.

“We are confident that we are well placed to significantly grow both revenues and profitability during the next 12 months, as margins normalise, and the up-front investments we have made clearly demonstrate their ongoing value to the business.”

The business, which last year relocated its head office from Clifton Moor to the former CPP offices in Holgate Business Park, saw its active number of customers increase over the year by 39 per cent to 474,600, while its own-brand sales growth “kept pace” with other-brand groups.

As well as its head office in York, Gear4Music operates showrooms in York and Sweden, and distribution centres in York, Sweden and Germany. The AIM-listed Group sells own-brand musical instruments and music equipment alongside premium third-party brands including Fender, Yamaha and Gibson.