The latest Hornby results for the Christmas period confirm that transformation plans at the company continue apace.

In a trading statement released this week, Hornby has reported that Group sales for the third quarter were up compared to the same period a year ago. The company says this was driven by a hugely popular product range and increased global demand, as consumers spend more time at home due to coronavirus restrictions and seek even more indoor activities during the winter months.

However, tighter lockdown restrictions and the impact of courier companies pausing collections bound for Europe due to Brexit backlogs have led to a slower start to 2020. Hornby took the decision recently to pause all overseas orders until Brexit procedures could be properly put in place. Most overseas orders have now resumed and the backlogs have been worked through. The company expects that shipping to Europe will soon re-start.

Direct sales are up 133% year on year, and net cash at the end of December 2020 was £3.8m compared to net cash £3.9m at the end of September 2020.

Commenting on Hornby’s latest toy range for 2021, the group said: “We would normally be attending several toy fairs during January but these have been cancelled due to Covid restrictions. As such, we have digitally previewed our latest range announcements which have been released to the trade and the public through various social media platforms. The feedback was encouraging, and we were buoyed by the levels of interest.”

The company expects to finish the year with sales 15-20% ahead of the prior year.

Speaking of the latest Hornby results, chief executive officer, Lyndon Davies commented: “No one expected the last year to turn out as it did. It is hard, however, not to want to spread a little good news amongst all the bad. The transformation at Hornby continues to accelerate, this is not time for braking, we must now accelerate upwards through the gears.”

Hornby also unveiled that a new website is set to go live in the coming weeks.