Laura Ashley back in the black
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Fashion and home furnishings specialist Laura Ashley has enjoyed a recovery with strong sales in the first half of the year. Further cost-cutting and strong demand for the retailer's assortment boosted results. Pre-tax profit in the six months to 29 July rose to £3.0 million, compared with a loss of £0.2 million during the same period the year before. Like-for-like UK sales rose 13.1 percent in the 31 weeks ended 2 September; in the first 24 weeks they gained 14.3 percent, compared with a weak performance last year. "Despite challenging retail conditions in the UK , we believe that our recovery will continue, underpinned by solid operational efficiency throughout the business," chief executive Lilian Tan said in a statement. Shares gained 6.38 percent on the news, which included expectations for profit growth to continue.
Tan told Reuters that the furniture and fashion business suffered tough price competition. "(But) we believe despite these challenging retail conditions...our product offer remains resilient," she said. She further revealed that the company may open up to 20 new stores over the next twelve months as part of its portfolio revival efforts. These will, however, include store relocations or closures. Laura Ashley currently has 178 stores in Britain . It closed eight stores and opened another six during the first six months of the year.
The company said it was improving efficiency by sourcing more products from Asia and Eastern Europe . It also pointed out that its popular clothes designs, like the Tropical Hibiscus print, were performing very well, with UK fashion like-for-like sales up 45.5 percent in the first half. Tan said the company is also offering tailored clothes and office attire this season in an effort to attract more customers.