CPR.L Regulatory News (CPR)

29 Apr 2008 07:00

Carpetright PLC29 April 2008 Carpetright plc Year End Pre-Close Period Announcement Carpetright plc, Europe's leading specialist carpet and floor coveringsretailer, today announces an update on trading for the second half of thefinancial year, ahead of entering its year end close period on 3 May 2008. Thiscovers the 26 week trading period from 28 October 2007 to 26 April 2008. Group sales have increased by 5.6% and the store base has increased to 675stores by the period end. Against this background it is anticipated that theGroup's underlying profit before tax for the financial year will be in line withconsensus market estimates. The UK and Republic of Ireland business, including the impact of Storeys and therecent Carpetworld acquisition, recorded a sales increase of 3.1%, with like forlike store sales (which excludes Storeys and Carpetworld) down by 1.8%. Tradingfor the last 13 weeks has been challenging, with like for like sales positive at0.6%. Gross margin has improved in line with our expectations and we estimatewill be up by at least 100 basis points excluding Storeys and Carpetworld forthe full year. Within the UK and Republic of Ireland 18 stores opened duringthe second half and 18 have been closed, taking the total number of stores to559 including 61 concessions, 38 Storeys and 12 Carpetworld stores. Our business in the Rest of Europe (The Netherlands, Belgium and Poland),continues to make good progress, with sales in local currency increasing by10.7%, and like-for-like sales in local currency increasing by 6.8%. Grossmargin in these territories has continued to increase. Across the Rest ofEurope the Group has opened one store in The Netherlands and three in Poland inthe second half, bringing the total to 116 stores. At the beginning of Aprilthe first trial store with our joint venture partner TTL, opened in Germany. The new UK national cutting and distribution centre at Purfleet will be fullyoperational from the beginning of May, following a phased transfer and closureof carpet cutting and distribution activities from four other sites during theperiod. The integration of Storeys is now complete and the integration ofCarpetworld is proceeding to plan. There have been no significant changes to the financial position of the Groupsince the publication of the Interim Report in December 2007. Lord Harris of Peckham, Chairman and Chief Executive, said: "As expected, our UK and Republic of Ireland business has had a demanding secondhalf against a background of a weakening consumer environment and a slowdown inhousing transactions. However, we continue to grow margin and our storeexpansion plan remains on track. Our businesses in the Rest of Europe havecontinued to make solid progress and our planned move into Germany is nowunderway. Whilst the trading environment has become more difficult since the beginning ofthe year we believe that our recent operational improvements will enhance ourresilience to market movements and that our strong competitive position willenable the business to continue to grow market share." The Group will report its results for the 53 weeks ending 3 May 2008 on 1 July2008. Analyst conference call Lord Harris will host a conference call for analysts at 08.15am this morning. The dial in number is +44 (0) 1452 552 018. The conference ID is 45667836. Thereafter, for further enquiries please contact: Carpetright plcLord Harris of Peckham, Chairman and Chief ExecutiveJason Grover, Interim Group Finance Director Tel: 01708 802000 Citigate Dewe RogersonKevin Smith / Angharad Couch Tel: 020 7638 9571 Carpetright plc Year End Pre-Close Period Announcement 2007/2008 2006/2007 Store Base - Numbers 26 April 27 October 28 April 28 October 2008 2007 2007 2006UK & RoI Carpetright* 460 445 439 431 Concessions 61 66 73 63 Storeys 38 35 - - 559 546 512 494Rest of Europe** The Netherlands 77 76 75 70 Belgium 28 28 28 28 Poland 11 8 6 3 116 112 109 101Group Total 675 658 621 595 2007/2008 2006/2007 Store Space (knsf) 26 April 27 October 28 April 28 October 2008 2007 2007 2006UK & RoI Carpetright* 3,965 3,888 3,930 3,911 Concessions 123 139 154 146 Storeys 386 370 - - 4,474 4,397 4,084 4,057Rest of Europe** The Netherlands 895 888 903 854 Belgium 335 337 347 347 Poland 115 83 63 35 1,345 1,308 1,313 1,236Group Total 5,819 5,705 5,397 5,293 * including Carpetworld ** excludes joint venture in Germany This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange