Carpetright drives sales ahead
Trading steady in UK and Benelux
Carpetright has continued to record steady sales growth in a generally downbeat UK furnishings market.
Chairman and chief executive Lord Harris told shareholders in a statement to the carpet and hard floor retailers annual meeting that “trading for the Group for the 14 weeks to August 7 is in line with our expectations.”
The UK and Republic of Ireland business has seen an ‘encouraging’ start to the year, with total sales up by 9.2 per cent and like-for-like sales up by 3.7 per cent. Carpetrights In House Carpets concessions in Allders stores accounted for 3.2 per cent of the total sales increase.
Lord Harris said: “We continue to improve market share and have seen good sales growth across all floor covering products. Gross margin continues to show improvement on last year.”
UK furniture and carpet retailers are generally seeing mixed fortunes currently, according to the newly released BRC/KPMG sales monitor figures for July, with heavy discounts the main driver of sales.
In its Benelux business, Carpetright saw same store product sales in local currency increase by 6.7 per cent. “We continue to make significant gains in market share in both Belgium and Holland. Gross margin shows further improvement on last year.”
