Headlam sales slide stabilises

Flooring group Headlam continues to struggle in tough market conditions with first half sales to June down by 8.2%, a slight inmprovement on earlier in the year.Like for like revenue in the UK fell by 10.7% and by 9.7% in Continental Europe, though the impact of currency translation increased revenue on translation by 14.8%. This, combined with a first half contribution from Silvester, led to overall revenue growth from the Continental businesses of 7.4%.Gross margins eased compared with 2008 principally because of the ongoing change in product mix. "We continue to maintain firm control on overhead cost but have not implemented any further restructuring," Headlam said, adding "Based on this performance, earnings for the six months ended 30 June 2009 are likely to be in line with management's expectations for the first half." For the first four months of 2009 Headlam reported sales were down by by 8.5%. Headlam