Trading Statement

RNS Number : 9194F

John Lewis Of Hungerford PLC

21 January 2010

 



John Lewis of Hungerford plc ("the Company")

Trading update

John Lewis of Hungerford, the specialist kitchen manufacturer and retailer, is pleased to provide the following trading update.

On 11 December 2009 the Company reported that current sales and the future order book looked healthy with customer enquiries and interest remaining strong. The Company is pleased to report that this was borne out by actual performance during its important winter sale period. The Company's current order book is approximately 60% higher than at the same time last year reflecting both a strong trading performance and the difficult trading conditions experienced last year.  

However, the Board wishes to caution that, due to the prevailing economic conditions, the outlook for the year is particularly difficult to gauge at this point in the cycle. The adverse weather conditions has resulted in some movement of orders and also reduced recent order intake.  Furthermore the Company's decision to start the winter sale early, in order that consumers could benefit from the lower VAT rate, may have accelerated orders that would otherwise have been received later in the year.

Nevertheless the Board believe the difficult decisions taken during 2009 have placed the Company on a solid platform to deliver future growth.

John Lewis of Hungerford	01235 774300
Jon Rosby, Managing Director
Smith & Williamson Corporate Finance Limited	0117 376 2213
Martyn Fraser

 

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