Lord Harris has said Carpetright has seen ‘encouraging movement’ in UK sales in the past quarter, but that this has come at a 2% cut in gross margins.

The country’s largest flooring retailer saw like for like sales drop by just 0.25 in the 12 weeks to 23 July, with total sales down 2.3%.

‘We have seen an encouraging movement in UK like-for-like sales from the previous financial year, driven in part by our investment to support strong promotional activity, the growth of our bed sales and the roll out of our new laminate offer,’ Harris says.

This, combined with a higher proportion of bed sales, has seen the UK gross margin cut by about 2%.

The group has changed the reporting of its results, with the Republic of Ireland now measured alongside Belgium and the Netherlands. Like for like sales were down 1.7% and by 2.3% in total.

‘Looking forward, I see no respite from the challenging environment over the next year but remain confident the group will emerge in a strong position to deliver future growth once consumer demand improves.’

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