Hornby FY forecast derailed

25th Jan 2011 08:28

Scalextrix and model train set maker Hornby warned annual pre-tax profit will fall short of market expectations after key Christmas sales were hurt by harsher than usual weather conditions. "Retail customers experienced weaker sales than expected in the weeks immediately prior to Christmas. The major reason was the impact of the inclement weather, which led to sales to consumers being lower than expectations," the toy maker said in a company statement. Hornby added that sales at its European subsidiaries, which were constrained by shortages of product due to supply chain issues, continue to improve but sales in Europe prior to the end of the financial year will not recover the ground lost in the first half. On a brighter note, Hornby said it looked forward to an encouraging pipeline of new product releases and the board remains confident in its current strategy.