Mixed results for Home Retail Group
DIY chain Homebase today said sales of seasonal items dropped by a fifth as the poor summer weather took its toll on customer demand.
The adverse conditions meant Homebase, which is owned by Home Retail Group, saw an 8% fall in like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to September 1.
Home Retail’s other business, Argos, fared better with an improvement of 1.8%, driven by strong growth for flat panel televisions and video games systems.
Sales at Argos grew by 4.8% to £942m, helped by the opening of three new stores as the size of the chain’s estate reached 685 by the end of the financial period.
Overall, Home Retail said it expected profits in the first half of its financial year to be healthy, but said it remained cautious because of the uncertain consumer outlook.
Chief executive Terry Duddy said: “We are pleased to report positive like-for-like growth at Argos against strong comparatives last year. At Homebase however, there was a reversal in like-for-like growth as the weather conditions impacted its seasonal categories.”
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