Carpetright PLC Trading Statement (7094P)
October 04 2013 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMCPR
RNS Number : 7094P
Carpetright PLC
04 October 2013
4 October 2013
Carpetright plc
Trading Update
Carpetright plc, Europe's leading specialist carpet and floor
coverings retailer, today announces its trading update for the 10
weeks ended 29 September 2013.
Summary
o Whilst the self help activities are continuing to deliver, as
a result of a combination of a softer UK market and a further step
down in the Netherlands, it is likely the Group's full year profit
will be significantly below our previous expectations.
-- UK
o Volatile trading in the UK during the period with
like-for-like sales (note 2) down 2.5%. Total sales decreased by
4.1%.
o Self-help activities continue to deliver growth on last
year.
o Improvement in gross profit percentage of 140bps in the first
half.
o Store base increased by one during the period to 474, of which
218 have now been modernised.
-- Rest of Europe
o In local currency terms, like-for-like sales in the Rest of
Europe (Netherlands, Belgium and the Republic of Ireland) decreased
by 7.6%. Total sales declined by 7.8%. After the impact of currency
movements this translates to a 1.9% decrease in total sales.
o Improvement in gross profit percentage of 70bps in the first
half.
o Key driver of performance continues to be the weak Netherlands
economy, with the Group's Dutch business now expected to be
loss-making in the first half. Further operational actions have
been taken to mitigate the loss and maintain a positive cash
contribution.
o Belgium and the Republic of Ireland are in line with our
expectations.
-- Changes to Board being announced separately today
Lord Harris, Executive Chairman, said:
"Trading conditions in the UK have been volatile throughout the
period. Excluding the expected decrease in sales from our wholesale
business, the core retail business would have reported a
like-for-like decline of 1.7%, against a strong comparative of up
2.4% last year. Our self-help activities continue to deliver
growth, although the underlying market remains soft despite recent
improvements to mortgage approvals and consumer confidence.
"Trading in our Rest of Europe business continues to be
dominated by the extremely difficult economic conditions in the
Netherlands. We have taken further operational action to mitigate
the loss and maintain a positive cash contribution.
"Whilst we have improved the margin and maintained a tight
control on costs, the shortfall in sales in this trading period is
lowering our previous expectations."
The Group will report its interim results for the first half of
its financial year on 10 December 2013.
Analyst conference call
Lord Harris will host a conference call for analysts at 08:15
BST today.
The dial in number is +44 (0) 20 3003 2666 with the passcode
2166411.
Thereafter, for further enquiries please contact:
Carpetright plc
Lord Harris, Executive Chairman
Neil Page, Group Finance Director
Tel: 01708 802000
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Kevin Smith / Lindsay Noton
Tel: 020 7638 9571
A copy of this trading statement will be available on our
website www.carpetright.plc.uk today from 7.00am
Notes
1. All sales figures are quoted after deducting VAT.
2. Like-for-like sales calculated as this year's net sales
compared to last year's net sales for all stores that are at least
12 months old at the beginning of our financial year. Stores closed
during the year are excluded from both years. No account is taken
of changes to store size or introduction of third party
concessions. Sales from insurance and house building contracts are
supplied through the stores and included in their figures.
3. There have been no significant changes to the Group's financial position during the period.
Appendix 1: Group Sales
Current Financial Year Previous Financial
Year
----------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ ----------------------------
10 weeks 12 weeks 22 weeks 12 weeks 26 weeks
to to to to to 27
Oct 2012
(previously
reported)
29 Sept 20 July 29 Sept 13 Oct
2013 2012
(previously
reported)
2013 2013 (previously
reported)
----------------------------------------------- --------- -------------- --------- ------------- -------------
UK
* Total (4.1%) (3.3%) (3.6%) (0.6%) (1.6%)
(2.5%) (1.9%) (2.2%) 0.6% 0.7%
* Like-for-like (1.7%) (1.0%) (1.3%) 2.4% 3.0%
* Like-for-like excluding wholesale
Rest of Europe
* Total (in local currency) (7.8%) (10.9%) (9.6%) (12.2%) (9.7%)
* Like-for-like (in local currency) (7.6%) (10.6%) (9.3%) (12.7%) (10.1%)
* Total (in GBP) (1.9%) (4.4%) (3.2%) (20.4%) (17.7%)
----------------------------------------------- --------- -------------- --------- ------------- -------------
Group Sales (in GBP) (3.7%) (3.5%) (3.6%) (4.4%) (4.7%)
----------------------------------------------- --------- -------------- --------- ------------- -------------
Appendix 2: Store portfolio
Current Financial Previous Financial
Year Year
--------------------------------------- ------------------------------------
Store portfolio 29 Sept 20 July Interim Year end
2013 2013 (previously
reported) 27 Oct 27 April
2012 2013
(previously (previously
reported) reported)
----------------- -------------------- ----------------- -----------------
Stores Sq Stores Sq Stores Sq Stores Sq
ft ft ft ft
------------------ ------- -------- --------- --------- ------- -------- ------- --------
UK
Standalone 458 4,075 457 4,064 464 4,165 462 4,124
Concessions 16 29 16 29 16 33 16 29
Total 474 4,104 473 4,093 480 4,198 478 4,153
------------------ ------- -------- --------- --------- ------- -------- ------- --------
Europe
Republic of
Ireland 21 155 21 155 20 147 21 155
Netherlands 95 1,104 95 1,104 95 1,105 95 1,104
Belgium 26 307 26 307 26 307 26 307
Total 142 1,566 142 1,566 141 1,559 142 1,566
------------------ ------- -------- --------- --------- ------- -------- ------- --------
Total Group 616 5,670 615 5,659 621 5,757 620 5,719
------------------ ------- -------- --------- --------- ------- -------- ------- --------
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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