British carpet and floor coverings retailer Carpetright has welcomed a return in like-for-like sales growth in its third quarter, boosted by a store renovation programme.
In its UK market, like-for-like sales for the 13 week period to January was up by 1.9 per cent, while its like-for-like sales in its Dutch, Belgian and Irish markets combined increased by 5.4 per cent in local currency terms.
The news is a contrast to the retailer’s half-year report, in which the company’s overall pre-tax profits dropped by 42 per cent and total revenue fell by 3.8 per cent.
Chief executive Wilf Walsh said Carpetright‘s trading performance in the UK over the last four weeks alone, with like-for-like growth of 6.8 per cent, gave him confidence in the retailer‘s turnaround strategy.
READ MORE: Carpetright’s profits plummet
The retailer‘s new brand identity is now applied to 120 stores, delivering sales growth above comparable stores in the rest of the estate.
“The refurbished stores with our new brand identity continue to outperform the uninvested estate and we are confident of hitting our target of 150 stores – representing over one third of the UK estate by the financial year-end,” Walsh said.
Carpetright said it remained comfortable with analysts’ forecasts for underlying pre-tax profit for its full year period to April 29 in the range of £13.9 million to £16.5 million.
“While the outlook for the UK consumer remains uncertain, we remain confident in our plan and are comfortable with the current range of market expectations,” Walsh said.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette’s free daily email newsletter
