(Alliance News) - John Lewis Of Hungerford PLC on Monday expressed a confident outlook, despite reporting widened loss in the first half of its current financial year.
The kitchens, bedrooms and furniture retailer said its pretax loss widened in the six months to the end of 2019 to GBP398,000 compared to GBP327,000 loss reported a year prior, as revenue slipped to GBP3.5 million from GBP3.7 million.
John Lewis Of Hungerford explained that its financial first half was characterised by uncertainties around Brexit and the UK general election, as the company had experienced reduced footfall in its stores.
More positively, the company said footfall in stores in 2020 rebounded very strongly, and design-quoted activity during January was double the level of the previous year, with February following a similar pattern.
Looking forward, John Lewis Of Hungerford said it has now ceased production for three weeks and furloughed many employees, pending further updates from the UK government.
"With the nation still in a state of flux and the next few months still unpredictable, it is not possible to assess the financial implications of Covid-19 on our business and on recovering the loss from the first half year," said Chief Executive Kiran Noonan.
"However, with the quoted business at the highest level seen within the company's history, we are confident that once normality resumes within the country and the economy, the business is poised to move forward once again," added Noonan.
AIM-listed John Lewis Of Hungerford shares were trading 2.8% lower in London on Monday at 0.44 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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