Carpetright UK sales up as brand revamp remains 'on track'

UK total sales advanced 2.5% and Carpetright said its interim group underlying profit guidance of between £16m and £19m remains unchanged.

The forecast decline in full-year gross profit percentage of between 50 and 100 basis points also remains unchanged.

Carpetright opened five stores in the period and closed 27, giving a total of 438 shops in the UK.

The retailer’s revitalisation plans have included opening a new format store in June in its Clapham High Street branch designed to inspire shoppers and encourage experimentation. The format was rolled out to a further three stores and included a new logo.

In its European business, comprising Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland, like-for-likes in local currencies were up 5.7%. Revenues increased 2.7% at local currencies, but fell 6.9% taking into account the impact of currency movements. The retailer trades from 138 stores across the region.

Carpetright chief executive Wilf Walsh said: “I am pleased to report that the group continued its positive trading performance during the period. In the UK we delivered encouraging sales growth against strong comparatives in the prior year and continue to gain market share. Sales in the rest of Europe have also continued to recover.

“Our aim to revitalise the Carpetright brand is on track. We have made further progress with the strategy of rationalising and repositioning our store portfolio and are encouraged by the early performance of our four trial concept stores in the UK. We will update shareholders on progress of our strategic initiatives at the time of the interim results in December.

“Trading in the year to date remains in line with management’s expectations and our view for the year as a whole remains unchanged.”

Carpetright will unveil its interim results on December 15.