Hopes pinned on Christmas trading
Variety store group Woolworths has revealed that its interim pre-tax loss widened by 9.1 per cent to£35.9 million compared with the same period last year.

The poor results were blamed on tough trading conditions. Woolworths is now relying on Christmas to aid its recovery.

Chief executive Trevor Bish-Jones (pictured) said: 'The tough trading conditions have had an impact on the performance of the retail chain.'

Woolworths often posts a loss for the first half of the year but the consumer downturn has exacerbated the trend. 'As ever, our success is driven by how well we trade over the Christmas period, and that is still to play for,' Bish-Jones said.

Sales at Woolworths' entertainment wholesale and publishing arm were, however, up by 15.5 per cent. Sales across the Woolworths group from continuing operations fell by 2.9 per cent to£1.04 billion. Like-for-like sales at the Woolworths mainchain fell by 4 per cent in the first half.

Woolworths initiated cost cutting earlier this year, including a recruitment freeze and a reduction in its marketing budget.

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