Carpetright has unveiled a sharp widening of losses in its interim results, as the struggling floor retailer closed more than 60 stores amid a dramatic restructuring plan.
For the half-year period ending October 27, the retailer said statutory loss before tax came in at £11.7 million, compared to the £600,000 loss it made this time last year.
Earlier this year, Carpetright launched a CVA that involved a wide-reaching rescue and restructure plan, which included the closure of 81 stores.
So far, 65 of these have been closed.
As a result, like-for-like sales plunged by 12.7 per cent.
Meanwhile, overall revenue took a 15.7 per cent hit year-on-year, dropping from £226.6 million to £191.1 million.
Carpetright said sales in the first quarter had been affected by bad publicity around the brand and challenges in stock availability.
The drop in revenue was also driven by a 19 per cent year-on-year plunge in UK sales, with the rest of Europe only recording a 1.2 per cent slide in revenue.
Overall underlying EBITDA for the first half swung from £8.6 million profit to a loss of £1.7 million, again driven by a massive drop in UK underlying EBITDA, which swung from £8.4 million profit to a loss of £2.1 million year-on-year.
Underlying EBITDA for Carpetright’s rest of Europe market grew from £200,000 to £400,000.
Additionally, the retailer said there was a “marked sequential improvement” between the quarters this year.
It also said net debt had dropped from £53 million to £12.4 million.
“This is a transitional year for Carpetright as we work through our restructuring plan,” chief executive Wilf Walsh said.
“We remain on schedule and are confident that this activity is already starting to yield benefits.
“This is the first stage in returning the group to sustainable long-term profitability.”
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