Carpetright posted a pre-tax profit increase of 1.4 per cent to £27.7 million in the first half and remains in talks with founder Lord Harris about a management buy-out.

For the 26 weeks to October 27, Carpetright's UK and Ireland sales climbed 9.2 per cent to£219 million.

Sales rose strongly in June and July, when poor weather increased customer footfall. However, the carpet specialist said October was particularly disappointing. Like-for-like sales fell 3.4 per cent that month.

The consortium headed by Lord Harris and the Carpetright senior management team is still in the process of completing its due diligence. Discussions are at an advanced stage, but there remains no certainty that a firm offer will be made.

Chairman and chief executive Lord Harris said: “Our trading performance in Europe has been strong, but market conditions in the UK in October have adversely affected the results for the first half, although the second half has started strongly. We expect the rest of the year to be challenging. We continue to ensure we focus on profitable growth and anticipate that net debt will have reduced significantly by the year end.”

The retailer has 546 stores, of which 66 stores are concessions and 35 trade under the Storeys fascia. It expects openings to be limited in the second half.

Carpetright's total sales in the rest of Europe jumped 14.7 per cent and like-for-likes rose 7.6 per cent. Belgium and the Netherlands performed well, with total sales soaring 13.1 per cent and like-for-likes up 7.5 per cent. In Poland, total sales rose to£900,000, with like-for-like growth of 10.7 per cent.

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