LONDON (Alliance News) - John Lewis of Hungerford PLC said Monday it sank to a half-year loss as sales fell sharply amid tough conditions, but the order book momentum continued to improve into the second half of the year.
For the six months ended December 2018, the kitchen and furniture maker sank to a GBP335,000 pretax loss from a GBP238,000 profit the year prior. This was after revenue fell 21% to GBP3.7 million from GBP4.7 million the year before.
"We are pleased to report that trading and sales for the half-year period ending December 2018 were in line with management expectations," John Lewis Chief Executive Officer Kiran Noonan and Chair Gary O'Brien said.
"This is due to the continued improvement in both the levels of customer enquiries and the conversion improvements following the investment in our sales training, marketing literature and showroom estate," Noonan and O'Brien added. "This improvement has continued over the last three months with the launch of our new website in December 2018."
John Lewis of Hungerford does not pay a dividend.
"Against a continued weak retail environment, it is pleasing to see that the combination of our dispatched orders, forward order book against which a full deposit has been taken, together with our future orders against which a first stage deposit has been taken, are broadly in line with the previous year," Noonan and O'Brien continued. "We believe this is due primarily to the strength of our focused marketing activities and the ability of our team to deliver exceptionally high standards of service throughout the customer journey."
Dispatched orders and forward order book stood at GBP5.1 million at the end of the half year period, down 12% from GBP5.8 million the year prior. At the end of the 10 weeks since the end of the half year, this has improved to GBP6.1 million, being 9.0% lower than the GBP6.7 million reported the year before.
Shares in John Lewis of Hungerford were 4.4% lower at 0.60 pence on Monday.