JLH.L Share News (JLH)

(Sharecast News) - John Lewis of Hungerford said sales and forward orders increased by a quarter so far in its financial year as customers spent money to improve their homes.
Despatched sales and forward orders for the 24 weeks to 16 December rose to £4.5m from £3.7m a year earlier. Orders with a first-stage deposit rose to £1.4m from £1m.

The total of sales and orders rose 25% to £5.9m, the maker of kitchens, bedrooms and furniture said. The company said its designers worked with customers to provide design consultations online via Zoom and Teams.

"Overall design quotation activity within the business is substantially up on the previous year which reflects sustained consumer interest in home improvements," the company said.

Households have been spending to revamp their homes while under lockdown and with many people expecting to work from home in future. The chancellor's stamp duty holiday has also triggered a mini-boom in the housing market, which is likely to have boosted sales of kitchens and furniture.

John Lewis said it agreed new terms with landlords and suppliers during the pandemic and took government financial support to offset lost revenue. After agreeing a new financing facility in June strong trading has increased liquidity to £775,000 on 16 December from £312,000 a year earlier.

The AIM-traded company said it delayed publication of its annual report to the end of March from the planned date of 31 December because of the Covid-19 crisis. Guidance for the year to the end of June is unchanged, it said.