23rd Jul 2015 08:26
LONDON (Alliance News) - United Carpets Group PLC Thursday reported growth in pretax profit in its recently-ended financial year, despite a drop in revenue, as it improved its gross margin and like-for-like sales.
The carpet and floor covering specialist said that pretax profit in the year ended March 31 rose to GBP1.2 million from GBP0.9 million the year before, although revenue fell to GBP19.1 million from GBP21.1 million. Like-for-like revenue grew 2.7%, which it said was helped by a strengthening market.
Its gross margin grew to 66.8% from 61.7% the prior year, which United Carpets said reflected the change in the mix of revenue between Franchising and Retail and Warehousing revenue.
United Carpets said it will pay a final dividend of 0.25 pence. The company paid no dividend the year before, last having paid a dividend in 2011.
"United Carpets is well positioned for the future. Demand for the group's products has been consistent and the store network is becoming increasingly well balanced. The balance sheet is strengthened, there are no borrowings other than a small number of immaterial finance leases and the marketplace is improving," Chief Executive Paul Eyre said in a statement.
"While there are still ongoing challenges which will no doubt impact the business, the board is confident that the group is once again well positioned and looks forward to delivering sustainable growth and returns for shareholders," he added.
Shares in United Carpets were trading up 2.3% at 11.00 pence Thursday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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