Woolworths confirms poor Christmas |
|
|
|
Published
:
Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:51
|
LONDON (AFX) - Woolworths Group PLC, the troubled sweets, CD and stationery retailer, has confirmed it endured a poor Christmas with mainchain like-for-like sales down 4.6 pct over the six weeks to Jan 13.However, the 97-year old group, which issued a profit warning on Dec 5, said it anticipated retail selling margins for the full year to end-January 2007 will increase by at least 100 basis points, with year-end stocks at least 20 mln stg lower than the prior year.Total group sales over the six weeks rose 2.2 pct.Woolworths forecast full-year trading profit within the current range of market forecasts.After last month's profit warning, analysts cut underlying pretax profit forecasts to 18-28 mln stg, down from the 57.7 mln stg achieved in the previous year.Woolworths was the first major UK retailer to warn on profits before Christmas, blaming low high street footfall in October and November, a particularly 'challenging' market in CDs and DVDs and a slow start to sales of seasonal products. HMV Group PLC, the music and books group, and Instore PLC, the variety store retailer, both issued alerts two weeks laterWoolworths' shares closed Tuesday at 33-1/2 pence, valuing the business at 489 mln stg.Baugur, which through the Unity Investments vehicle (which groups Baugur with fellow Icelandic investor FL Group, and Kevin Stanford, the retail entrepreneur) holds a direct stake in Woolworths of 10.2 pct and has a further 2 pct through contracts for difference. It has been linked with a possible break-up bid or push for restructuring.newsdesk@afxnews.comjdd/rwCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2006. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
|
|
|
|
Print this Story
Australia's Woolworths lodges application for 100 pct of NZealand's Warehouse 