Thursday March 27, 08:19 AM
Profits soar at cautious Laura Ashley
LONDON (ShareCast) - Clothing and furniture retailer Laura Ashley has reported a 62% surge in full year pre-tax profit, but like for like sales fell almost 9% and the firm remains cautious about general trading conditions. Profit before
tax for the 52 weeks to 26 January 2008 jumped to £19.8m from £12.2m a year ago, although this was helped by a pension credit of £2.3m and gains on disposals of £1.7m.Total sales grew 5.6% to £237.6m, while UK retail sales were up over 7% to £187.2m, but sales dropped 8.7% on a like for like basis, or 5.9% after accounting for the store-realignment programme Meanwhile, total retail sales in the seven weeks to 15 March increased by 5.2%, although like for like sales fell 8.8%. "Although our like-for-like sales have declined, we do not view this as a cause for concern," said chairman K P Khoo. "Our total sales and margin rate have both seen continued improvement." "The outlook for the UK economy is uncertain for 2008 so, whilst we are confident that our strong brand and product offering are compelling, we remain cautious about the general trading conditions in the retail market for the year ahead," said the group. The final dividend of 1p per share takes the total dividend for the year to 2p.
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