Carpetright announces HY trading to be ‘heavily impacted’ by restructuring
Carpetright has said trading in its half-year update for the 26-week period ending 27 October was “heavily impacted” by the company’s restructuring which included 67 store closures.
It said like-for-like performance remained negative in this second part of the period however “there was an improvement in the trend, as the restructuring activity began to take effect”.
Trading performance in the rest of Europe including the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland was “slightly ahead” of the same period last year.
A further six stores are expected to close prior to the end of December 2018. It added it “remains confident” of achieving the £19m of annualised benefits announced as part of the recapitalisation of the group in May 2018.
Wilf Walsh, chief executive, said: “This is a transitional year for Carpetright as we work through our restructuring plan. I am pleased to report that this activity is firmly on track and has started to yield benefits as we create a right-sized and well-located portfolio of stores on sustainable rents. We also continue to modernise our existing estate as well as investing in our digital capability.”
A further update will be provided at the announcement of the interim results for the 26 weeks ended 27 October 2018 on 11 December 2018.
