Carpetright warns two more years of pain

Carpetright, Britain’s biggest floor coverings retailer, said it expected tough trading conditions to continue over the next two years as it posted an expected 40 percent slump in year profit.

By The Newsroom

Published 28th Jun 2011, 09:50 BST

The firm, which has issued three profit warnings this year, said it would not pay a final dividend.

“Looking forward, over the next two years we expect the consumer environment to remain difficult and have adapted our plans accordingly,” said chairman and chief executive Philip Harris.

Carpetright, which trades from about 700 stores in Britain, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands, made underlying pre-tax profits of £16.9m in the year to April 30.

The firm has suffered from a weak floor coverings market, the result of fragile consumer confidence.

Revenues fell 5.8 per cent to £486.8m.

Carpetright ended the year with net debt of £65.7m.

Shares in Carpetright, which has America’s richest man Bill Gates as a six per cent shareholder, have lost seven percent of their value over the last three months.