United Carpets rolls out higher half-year profits

19th Dec 2014 15:06

People have been buying more carpets as the British housing market recovered, helping floor covering retailer United Carpets to roll out higher profits.United Carpets said it had been helped partly by improving housing demand with slightly higher average transaction values, which it believed reflected an improvement in consumer confidence.Chief executive Paul Eyre said: "More recent like-for-like sales figures have been more positive and I believe we are well placed to deliver a good result for the year."Network sales in the six months to the end of September fell to £25.6m from £28m and revenue dropped to £9.1m from £10.3m a year ago.But like-for-like sales increased by 0.3%, operating profit rose 17.5% to £531,000 and pre-tax profit lifted 18.1% to £534,000.Earnings per share increased 10.5% to 0.42p. United Carpets said like-for-like sales since the end of September had improved further.The company's shares rose 0.88p or 10.6% to 9.12p at 15:09 in London.