Europe's biggest carpet and floor coverings retailer, Carpetright, has announced in its year-end results that its profits fell by 39.5%.
These results for the period ending April 26 2014 reflect what the company has been saying throughout the year about the difficult trading conditions it has been operating in.

Underlying operating profit in the UK fell from £10.9m to £10.7m, a drop of 1.8%, while revenue in the UK fell from £381.6m to 375.8m, a change of 1.5%.

Executive chairman Lord Harris said: "While indicators point to overall improvement in UK economic performance over the past 12 months, it has been a challenging time for the Group with our markets remaining highly competitive and deal-driven.

"The performance of the business in the rest of Europe is principally a reflection of the continued difficult trading in the Netherlands. Whilst this business reported a loss for the year, it remained cash generative."

During the 12 months 89 Carpetright stores were refurbished, bringing the total number of stores made over to 275, representing 58% of the portfolio.

A net of six stores were closed, bringing the number of Carpetright stores in the UK to 472.

"Against this backdrop, we continue to take steps to develop the business. While we anticipate trading conditions will remain challenging, we expect these actions will underpin an improvement in Group performance in the new financial year," continued Lord Harris.

Carpetright announced last month that Lord Harris was stepping down from the role of executive chairman in July and Wilf Walsh would become the new ceo of the company, with Lord Harris retiring from the board at its AGM on September 4.

But now in a turn around, Lord Harris will continue in the role of non-executive chairman after the AGM until a replacement chairman can be found.