Laura Ashley confident about annual trading figures
16 December 2010 11:12
In an interim management statement released today, Laura Ashley has expressed confidence in its ability to end its full-year trading ahead of expectations.
The retailer stated that in the first 19 weeks of its second half to December 11th, total UK retail sales had increased by 1.3% year-on-year, with like-for-like sales up 2.7%.
Laura Ashley has opened two new stores over the year but closed 12 as part of its drive to "streamline our store portfolio in an effort to optimise profitability."
The company indicated that it was experiencing slower like-for-like growth in the second half as a result of "a sluggish economy and adverse weather conditions", but nevertheless its underlying like-for-like sales growth for the year to date is 4.6%. Over the same reporting period its e-commerce business saw an impressive 28.7% growth.
In an upbeat conclusion to its management statement, Laura Ashley said: "Despite the current economic uncertainty and adverse weather conditions in the UK, we remain confident that full year trading will be ahead of the board's expectations."
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