Home shopping group Findel, which successfully raised £81m over the summer through a share placing and open offer, has posted a 5% fall in group like-for-like sales.

The retailer said the decline, over the first 23 weeks of its financial year, was in line with its expectations and the focus remains on “cash generation to further reduce net debt”.

Findel’s home shopping arm had a “satisfactory” start to the new season, despite having a lower customer base after last year’s scaling back of customer recruitment. The retailer said average order value had showed an “encouraging increase”, but public sector funding uncertainty has hit the education supplies arm.

Broker KBC Peel Hunt rates Findel hold, with a target price of 50p. Analyst John Stevenson said: “The opportunity for investors is based on management’s intention to sell non-core asserts and cut costs in order to reduce debt.”

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