22nd Jul 2016 07:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - United Carpets Group PLC on Friday reported growth in profit in its recently-ended financial year and said it is confident it will continue to progress in the face of Brexit.
The carpet and floor-coverings retailer said pretax profit in the year ended March 31 grew to GBP1.5 million from GBP1.2 million the year before, as revenue rose to GBP21.4 million from GBP20.1 million and like-for-like sales increased by 5.8%.
United Carpets said demand from its target customers improved during the year, benefiting from a modest increase in consumer confidence. It noted that while uncertainty over the outcome of the EU referendum has had a negative effect on wider consumer confidence more recently, it believes that market conditions continue to be broadly positive.
"It will take some time to assess the real impact of the decision to leave the EU, however, the housing market in our core areas appears to have been generally moving forwards a little which may bring some additional benefits to our traditional growth drivers of renovations and home improvements," the company said in a statement.
United Carpets said it will pay a final dividend of 0.265 pence per share, up from 0.25p the year before.
"While uncertainties surrounding the decision to leave the EU are likely to continue for some time, the board are confident the group can continue to progress in the current environment. The medium term priorities will continue to be to selectively expand the store network whilst safeguarding the core business with the aim of generating consistent and increasingly attractive returns for shareholders," Chairman Peter Cowgill said.
Shares in United Carpets were trading up 5% at 11.55p on Friday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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