LONDON (Alliance News) - John Lewis of Hungerford on Friday said a good fourth quarter has meant its revenue for the year is set to rise but said it will report an overall loss for the year.
The kitchen, bedrooms and furniture retailer said it expects to post sales of GBP7.8 million for the year to the end of August, up from GBP7.4 million a year earlier thanks to growth in the fourth quarter, after the first nine months of the financial year had seen sales flat year-on-year.
The group expects to deliver a nominal operating profit for the full year, improved on the operating loss it made in the first half, but will still post a pretax loss. The company said this outcome was disappointing but was a result of investments made in the business over the course of the year, along with an unexpected fall in sales resulting from senior staffing changes in key showrooms.
For the current financial year, despatched and forward orders for the first quarter to the end of November so far are currently slightly down year-on-year at GBP1.9 million, compared to GBP2.0 million a year earlier. That has been distorted, however, due to changes in the group's operating policy which means revenue is booked at a later point than before, the company said.
Shares in John Lewis of Hungerford were untraded Friday morning, having last traded at 1.25 pence.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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