Carpetright saw a turnaround in its first half results as both revenues and profits increased across its estate. The flooring retailer saw a 6% increase in its first half pre-tax profit as like-for-likes continued to improve.
In the 26 weeks to October 31, Carpetright revealed a 1.4% revenue increase to £231.2m as well as underlying pre-tax profit growth to £9m, 34.3%.
Total revenue in the UK rose by 2.6% with like-for-likes up by 3.7%.
However due to the closures of 27 stores during the period, the retailer also recorded a net space decline of 4%, losing a total of 161,000 sq ft of physical trading space in the UK.
Carpetright‘s European stores also profited in the first half of the year with like-for-likes increasing by 5.5% and underlying profit by up to £0.6m.
“I am pleased to be able to report the Group continued its positive like-for-like sales performance and grew profits significantly during the first half. In parallel, we made good further progress with a wide-ranging programme of initiatives to extend the appeal of the Carpetright brand and address significant legacy property issues” said Wilf Walsh, Carpetright‘s Chief Executive.
“The trial of a new retail concept and brand identity is, as expected, producing much valuable customer insight. A comprehensive customer research study will be completed by the end of January 2016, giving us a more detailed picture which will inform our decisions on which elements we will roll-out across the existing estate.
In a retail market which remains very competitive, we are confident that our plan to build on Carpetright’s strong foundations, modernise the business, and ensure we capitalise on our advantages as market leader to the full, is on track. Our full year profit expectations remain unchanged.”
