ELECTRICAL retail giant AO World has continued to trade well despite the effects of the pandemic.

Bosses at the Bolton-based chain say group revenues are up around five per cent, on a yearly ‘like-for-like basis’.

And the performance for the UK alone was up around six per cent - even though the business has been hit by a national delivery drivers shortage and global supply chain issues.

The performance in another of their key markets, Germany, rose by around three per cent over the same period.

An AO spokesman said, in a half-yearly trading statement: “The challenging market dynamics in both the UK and Germany resulted in lower volumes than expected which affected operational leverage, particularly in the second quarter.”

Company chiefs say if figures are compared to two years ago, group revenues are up around 66 per cent, with the UK side of the business growing by 63 per cent or so.

The spokesman added: “Whilst we continue to see industry-wide issues relating to ongoing supply chain disruption, we have implemented measures to help mitigate these challenges in our logistics operations.

“We expect revenue growth in the second half of the year to record a similar growth rate to the first half of this year and anticipate that group adjusted EBITDA for the full year to be between £35m and £50m, with profits more heavily weighted than usual towards the second half of the year, driven by the peak trading period.”