Supply chain problems at Birthdays
Specialist retailer Clinton Cards has issued a profit warning, after shoppers opted for cheap Christmas products and a supply chain failure hit the Birthdays chain.

Full-year profits are likely to come in between£6 million and£8 million, after the festive season proved to be 'the most challenging for some years'.

Clinton posted a like-for-like sales decline of 2.4 per cent at its eponymous chain over the five weeks to Christmas Eve. Greater sales volumes were outweighed by the lower price points achieved. Over the 47 weeks to December 24, like-for-likes were down 2.1 per cent.

Although sales at Birthdays advanced 4.5 per cent on a comparable basis over five weeks, ongoing difficulties with the integration of the chain and 'temporary supply problems' had an impact. The 1.9 per cent like-for-like rise over 47 weeks was lower than expected and losses at the chain will be greater than anticipated.

Investec analyst Mark Charnock said: 'Confidence in making profit from Birthdays next year has been severely dented and questions now arise as to whether management will ever be able to generate the profit from Birthdays that was hoped for.'

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