Sofa chain ScS slumps to a £1.4 million annual loss due to lockdown

The group’s losses for the year to July 25 came against profits of £14.3 million the previous year as revenues tumbled by a fifth after lockdown forced the temporary closure of all 100 stores.

Pent-up demand saw sales almost double – up 92.2% – in the last nine weeks of the year after stores reopened, which left overall annual order intake falling by 5.9%.

ScS said it was also “encouraged” by recent trading, with orders jumping 45.8% on a like-for-like basis over the first nine weeks of the new financial year.

David Knight, chief executive of ScS, said: “We are delighted with the strong trading since the start of the new financial year.

“However, we are now entering our key autumn trading period and it remains difficult to predict the potential impact of the increased economic uncertainty, including the cessation of the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme at the end of October.”