20th Feb 2020 11:09
(Alliance News) - Laura Ashley Holdings PLC on Thursday said its performance deteriorated in the first half of its current financial year, but it believes in its "strong" future.
In addition, the London-headquartered textile design company promoted Katharine Poulter to chief executive officer from chief operating officer with immediate effect. She succeeds Kwan Cheong Ng, who will retire as CEO but will remain as an executive director until the end of April, when he will become a non-executive director.
At the end of January, Laura Ashley had said Poulter would replace Ng on May 1.
Poulter has 25 years of retail experience with companies including Marks & Spencer PLC, Home Retail Group PLC, Kingfisher PLC, Habitat Ltd and Wilko Brands Ltd. Since joining as COO, she has spearheaded a strategic review of the business, Laura Ashley said.
Turning back to earnings, the company reported pretax loss of GBP4.0 million for the six months to the end of 2019 compared to GBP1.5 million loss reported a year prior, as revenue declined by 11% to GBP109.6 million from GBP122.9 million.
"The decline in total revenue was due to the market headwinds and weaker consumer spending during the period, which led to a decline in sales of bigger ticket items," said Chair Andrew Khoo.
On a like-for-like basis, retail sales dropped by 10%, the company said.
Meanwhile, margins during the first half were hurt by a weak pound against the dollar as well as an increase in UK domestic costs.
Khoo concluded: "Whilst these results are disappointing, we believe that with the right focus and support, Laura Ashley has a strong future and can be successful again."
The stock was trading 11% higher in London on Thursday at 2.11 pence a share.
By Evelina Grecenko; [email protected]
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