Household furnishings group Courts saw its shares fall 9% today after reporting a disappointing end to the year for its UK operation.
The retailer, based in Morden in Surrey, said UK sales during its third-quarter fell by 1.8% on a like-for-like basis, stripping out income from new and refurbished stores.
Chief executive Bruce Cohen said the group had been affected by the same problems suffered by many retailers – bad weather, transport disruption and the autumn’s petrol protests.
But the Courts winter sale, which kicked off on December 26, had seen better trading, with like-for-like sales rising by 6.8%, total sales up 11.6% and gross margins ahead on the same period last year.
Overseas, the group, which has 314 stores in 20 countries, saw strong growth in Far East Asia in the third quarter, with a 19.8% growth in like-for-like sales.
But this was offset by a poorer performance in the Caribbean, down 0.4%, and in its other overseas markets, down 15.7%.
Overall, in the first three quarters of its financial year, Courts saw a 7.8% like-for-like sales increase, and total sales ahead 13.1%.
The third quarter figures compare with 33.2% total sales growth over the Christmas and New Year period reported at the same point last year.
Like-for-likes in that period were ahead 23.5%.
