Crawshaw Group Regulatory News (CRAW)

Crawshaw Group Plc

Christmas Trading Update

Crawshaw Group Plc ("Crawshaw" or the "Company"), the meat focussed retailer, provides the following update on current trading.

On the 19th of November 2013 I reported that our like for like sales for the 7 weeks since 26th September were up 18%, and that we would issue a further update following the very important Christmas trading period.

I'm once again delighted to report that management actions are continuing to deliver a progressively improving result, with like for like sales for the 7 weeks to 29th December 2013 up 21%, and once again at a higher gross margin.

With costs very much under control, we now expect the out turn for the full year to end January 2014 to be materially higher than the current market forecast.

We are also delighted to report that on 25th November we opened a further retail outlet, in the new Sheffield covered market, which is trading well, and that we are close to completing the lease on a retail premises, also in Sheffield.

Richard Rose, Chairman of Crawshaw, commented: "Our customers are spending more with us, and we have attracted a lot more customers. This reflects the excellent quality and value we offer. The improvements in trading performance are spread across most of our stores, and this gives me much confidence for the future. We are excited to have been able to restore our store expansion program, albeit in a very controlled manner."

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