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Home Retail Group margins under the spotlight.
Homebase and Argos owner Home Retail Group said today sales at Argos fell 2.8% to £924m in the second quarter, while Homebase declined 1.1% to £396m.
Sales at Argos in the 13 weeks to 28 August – the group’s second quarter – totalled £924m, up from £889m in the first quarter.Like for like (LFL) sales were down 5.0% from a year earlier but this was an improvement on the 8.1% slide in LFL sales in the first quarter. At Homebase, sales tumbled to £396m from £459m in the first quarter, but on a LFL basis were unchanged from a year ago, after registering a 1.4% LFL fall in the first quarter. Seasonal categories saw growth overall, led by garden planting and outdoor furniture. 'Big ticket' sales were also ahead, with growth in kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms. Sales for the remaining categories were lower overall.
Terry Duddy, CEO, commented: "Argos' sales trend saw an improvement compared to the first quarter, despite its market being more challenging. Homebase's sales performance again beat expectations and continued to be ahead of its market.
"While Homebase has produced a good first half peak trading performance on top of last year's strong result, total Group benchmark PBT in the first half is expected to reduce by approximately 20-25%. For the year as a whole, we expect to deliver Group benchmark PBT of £250-275m, which is in line with the bottom half of the current analyst range. As always, the outcome will depend upon trading at Argos in its peak Christmas period."
Tagged as: argos | home retail
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