Ideal Shopping Direct has issued a profit warning this morning, as the TV shopping group revealed its first-half results.

Ideal said that pre-tax profits for its full year would not exceed last year’s£6.3 million, falling short of market expectations.

The retailer made a pre-tax loss of£1.2 million in the 26 weeks to June 29. Sales were ahead at 2.6 per cent for the period to£47.5 million. Ideal said that, in the first 10 weeks of this half, sales and margins had begun to improve, with sales up 6 per cent.

The weakening economy led to average customer spend for the first half, falling 4 per cent compared with last year, however this was offset by a 9 per cent growth in customer acquisitions.

In a statement, Ideal said: “The fundamental strengths of the business remain unchanged – Ideal is well placed as one of the leading digital retailers to benefit from the continuing drive towards convergence of broadcast and online media, and our business model allows us to react quickly to manage our sales plans in response to changing market conditions.”

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