John Lewis of Hungerford lifts guidance after better H2

10th Oct 2019 11:13

(Sharecast News) - Kitchen and furniture manufacturer John Lewis of Hungerford lifted its guidance for the year on Thursday after an improved second-half performance.
The company now expects to report a loss of between £220,000 and £240,000 for the year to the end of June 2019 compared to a loss of £373,838 the previous year after trading in the second half was better than expected. The group had said in May that it no longer expected to recover much of the loss reported for the six months ended 31 December 2018.

In the period following the year to the end of June, sales were tracking at the same level as the previous year at £2.5m, while the forward order book was at £1.6m versus £1.9m in 2018, with customers cautious amid Brexit uncertainty.

"The company is therefore taking a cautious approach to trading and is focusing on maximising conversions but also on reducing cost within the business," it said.

"Overall design quotation activity within the business is up on this time last year and the company expects conversions to improve once there is clarity over the current political environment."

At 1100 BST, the shares were down 8.2% at 0.55p.