Home Retail Group boosted by kitchens
HOMEBASE and Argos owner Home Retail Group said yesterday it would match the previous year’s interim underlying profits, as sales of televisions and kitchens held up through the slump.
Benchmark profit before tax will be “broadly in line” with last year’s £121m, it said.
The group said customers were staying at home in the recession, and spending spare cash on improving their houses.
Like-for-like sales at Homebase rose 2.8 per cent for the first half to the end of August, with kitchen spending boosting revenues.
But sales at Argos dropped slightly by 2.1 per cent, just wide of the previous quarter’s 1.4 per cent drop.
Home Retail Group will “continue to plan cautiously for consumer demand” ahead of Christmas, chief executive Terry Duddy said.
He added that currency movements would impact the group more profoundly in the second half.