Trading Update

30 August 2018

Crawshaw Group Plc

("Crawshaw" or the "Group")

Trading Update

Crawshaw Group Plc, the UK's leading value butcher, is today providing the following trading update ahead of its interim results on 26 September 2018.

Further to the AGM trading update on 27 June, the trading performance of our high street shops continues to remain challenging. Rising shop rents and high business rates along with lower footfall and increased discounter competition, has directly impacted sales and profitability as expected. Half year like-for-like sales were -13.2% (-12.9% for the first 20 weeks). Group sales for the first half of the year were £21.6m (H117: £22.1m).

Due to the continued challenging trading, the Board expect the full year Group sales to January 2019 to be flat on the previous year and underlying operating loss of approximately £3m. The Group had £3.3m cash at 29 July 2018 (£4.7m at 28 January 2018).

The new leadership team who joined the business in late May have identified the core issues affecting the business and will announce how it plans to rectify those issues and drive the business forward with its interim results. The Group has maintained margin investment in response to the continued competitive environment.

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