Carpetright hails turnaround progress
Carpetright has seen its losses narrow in the year 27 April as it makes a return to sales growth.
The retailer made a pre-tax loss of £24.8 million compared to a loss of £69.8 million in the previous year.
Group revenue fell by 13.4% to £386.4 million in the period.
Carpetright chief executive Wilf Walsh said the year was a transitional one the business. Activity included addressing its legacy property issues and the restructuring of its UK store estate.
Walsh added: “This difficult task was carried out against the backdrop of a challenging trading environment but was essential to put the business back on the path to sustainable profitability.”
The company is now on track to deliver £19 million of annualised savings as part of its CVA.
Carpetright has also reported that UK like-for-like sales in the first eight weeks of the new financial year rose 8.5% year-on-year. This follows a 14.6% decline in the same period last year.
Walsh said: “We remain the clear number one player in floor coverings, having maintained our market leadership during an exceptionally challenging period, and our brand attributes remain strong.
“Our work is far from finished, and while economic and political uncertainties cloud the near term outlook for the retail sector, our turnaround plan is very much on track.”
Carpetright has also announced that Sandra Turner is to step down as a non-executive director in September. She will be replaced by Pauline Best who will join the board on 1 August. Best worked as global organisation and people director at Specsavers from 2008 to 2018. Her previous experience also includes senior HR roles at Vodafone.
