Crawshaw trading butchered by Brexit and supermarket promotions

15th Sep 2016 09:01

(ShareCast News) - Butcher's chain Crawshaw Group warned that trading conditions have remained difficult in recent weeks and that hitting full year targets will depend on measures it has taken to try and restore sales momentum ahead of the very important winter and festive season.The lower customer volumes seen earlier in the year, due to "a combination of the international football, adverse weather and Brexit" had continued since its initial warning in late June, the Midlands and north of England group said, which would see a "further reduction in like for like sales for the half year".Crawshaw's has been hit by aggressive meat pricing from supermarket groups, such as Morrison's recent 'price crunch', but management said they were acting quickly to "ensure we maintain the value-led approach that has proved successful in the past".A new 'out of town' factory outlet store format has "significantly" outperformed its standard high street store format "on every measure", while also offering lower fit-out costs.As a result, the store roll out strategy, which has one store near to completion and other in the pipeline, could be rejigged with a view to adding more of out-of-town types.The board said it was "confident our actions can restore sales momentum, and we will be prepared to invest in margin to drive sales and sharpen our value proposition".