LONDON (Alliance News) - Bedrooms and furniture retailer John Lewis of Hungerford PLC said on Thursday its loss narrowed in the first half of its financial year due to an improved sales performance.
For the six months to the end of February, the company reported a pretax loss of GBP84,000,compared with a pretax loss of GBP144,000 for the same period the year before, on revenue that grew by 12% to GBP4.0 million from GBP3.6 million.
Although the company's forward order book remained flat at GBP1.5 million, like-for-like sales increased by 34% in the first quarter, more than offsetting the 5.0% decline in the second quarter.
In addition, John Lewis of Hungerford said that as a result of changing its financial year-end to June 30, it expects to report a loss for the 10 month period as it excludes the company's normally strongest summer months.
"The first half year has witnessed a change in the retail environment and the home improvement sector. Our first quarter results exceeded expectations, due to an extended building schedule last Autumn. This was followed by a weakening of the sector resulting from the inclement weather during the protracted winter and a worsening of the general retail environment," said Chief Executive Kiran Noonan.
Shares in John Lewis of Hungerford were untraded on Thursday, last quoted at 1.16 pence.