Homewares perform poorly at value group
Matalan confirmed fears of difficult Christmas trading this morning. Like-for-like sales fell 7.6 per cent in the 19 weeks to January 7. Clothing market share was maintained at 3 per cent, but the performance of homewares was poor.
'Home and Christmas gifts performed poorly and actions are under way to address this,' said chief executive John King.
He added that sales picked up in the second half of the period as colder weather improved demand for coats and knitwear. As a result, the like-for-like fall slowed to 5.5 per cent in the last 10 weeks of the period.
King said that the proportion of grey-market goods sold was reduced during the period, which helped to improve profitability. However, like-for-like sales were affected.
The gross margin was up 0.3 per cent, but the company said the increase would have been greater had it not been for the need to discount home products.
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