Shares in Carpetright (LSE: CPR) shot up over 2% in trade today, following the release of the firm’s preliminary results for the 52 weeks ended 27 April 2013.
Europe’s leading specialist carpet and floor coverings retailer announced that underlying pre-tax profit advanced 142.5% year on year, from four million in 2011/12 to 11.4 million in 2012/13. This was helped by a 2.2% increase in like-for-like revenues in the UK.
Operations in the rest of Europe didn’t fare so well, with revenue in local currency declining 10.4% and like-for-like sales down by 11%. However, that didn’t stop the group generating cash and reducing its net debt, the latter down 46.6% to £10.2m.
Chief executive Darren Shapland commented:
“The Group grew underlying profits and generated cash during the year, with an encouraging increase in UK retail store like-for-like sales and a significant improvement in gross profit percentage year-on-year. In the Rest of Europe, trading conditions in the Netherlands remained difficult whilst progress has been made in the recovery plan for the Republic of Ireland.
“The success of our self-help activities in improving Group performance during the period was particularly encouraging, demonstrating that a focus on factors within our control can yield good results.
“While we expect trading conditions to remain challenging, we are confident that the combination of these self-help initiatives will underpin the positive momentum of the Group.”
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> Sam does not own shares in Carpetright.
