Soon-to-sell sofa chain ScS finds little comfort in cost of living Britain
Profits at Sofa chain ScS decreased last year with the soon-to-be acquired sofa chain blaming a challenging economic climate for the dip.
Just yesterday, it was revealed that the furniture store would be taken private following a close to £100m takeover by an Italian furniture retailer, Poltronesofa.
The company has since provided an update to markets, with profit before tax for the 52 weeks to July sitting at £6m down from £16.4m the prior year.
Underlying profit before tax also reached £7.2m, which included a £1.9m loss before tax from its freshly acquired Snug business.
ScS, which has 100 stores across the UK, said that trading has toughened over the first quarter of this year, with like-for-like order intake growing 2.7 per cent in August, 0.3 per cent in September and declining 4.4 per cent in October.
The cost of living crisis has slowed down consumer spending on big ticket items such as furniture, which often retails for well over £200.
Nonetheless, ScS said that order intake was in line with the prior year for the 12 weeks to 21 October and said it has a resilient balance sheet, with forecasted cash of £57m as at 31 October.
Steve Carson, chief executive of ScS, said:”We are pleased to announce a resilient set of results and to continue to take market share in what is a challenging environment.
“We were also delighted to see continued progress in year two of our strategy, including modernising our product offering, investing in our store estate, refreshing and relaunching our brand and advertising and to announce the acquisition of Snug.”
He added: “We remain cognisant of the challenging economic environment facing our customers which is expected to continue throughout FY24. We therefore believe that continuing to focus on our value driven proposition is extremely important so that everyone is able to create the home they love.”