MFI Furniture Group PLC
19 May 2006
19 May 2006
MFI Furniture Group Plc
AGM STATEMENT
At the Annual General Meeting of MFI Furniture Group Plc to be held later today
the Chairman, Ian Peacock, will make the following comments:
'Performance so far this year (from Boxing Day 2005), in all parts of the Group,
is in line with our expectations.
For Howden UK, total sales in 2006 are up 12% on the same period last year and
8% on a same depot basis. However, as previously indicated, the June 2005 sales
promotion will not be repeated. As a consequence, we expect that Howden UK's
total sales for the first half of this year will be similar to the same period
in 2005. Gross margin has continued to improve in 2006 and is up more than 100
basis points on the same period last year.
For Retail (including Sofa Workshop), consistent with our strategy of exiting
unprofitable sales, orders so far this year are currently 19% lower than the
same period last year, 16% down on a same store basis. However, gross margin has
risen by over 350 basis points. As a result, the like for like contribution to
gross profit is 9% lower than last year. Reflecting the unusually high order
book at the start of 2005, we expect that sales in the first half of this year
will be down further than orders.
Although the performance so far this year of Retail has been in line with our
expectations, the next phase of our plans involves tackling the store portfolio
and local distribution model. This will involve cost and considerable
executional challenges. Meanwhile, we have received expressions of interest in
all or part of our Retail business from a number of third parties, and we are in
the process of evaluating this interest in the context of our developing plans.
We will give an update on all these activities when we announce our 2006 Interim
results at the end of July.'
For further information, please contact:
Investors Gary Rawlinson, Head of Investor Relations,
MFI Furniture Group Plc
Tel: 020 7404 5959
Media Susan Gilchrist / Fiona Laffan / Anna Jones
Brunswick Group Limited
Tel: 020 7404 5959
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.