Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Argos and Homebase owner Home Retail Group suffered an 11% drop in pre-tax profits to £103m in the half year to August 28, with sales down to £2.7bn.
Of the two retail names, Argos was the harder hit, with like-for-like revenues down 6.5%. Overall sales at the 749-strong chain fell 4% to £1.8bn.
HRG said that Argos’ core customers had been impacted by the economic climate, with demand for big-ticket items on the slide.
Homebase like-for-like sales declined just 0.8% to £855.3m.
Despite the results, however, HRG chief executive Terry Duddy remained upbeat.
“We are about to enter our busiest trading period, and whilst we are planning cautiously, we do so from a position of operational and financial strength,” he said.
“This position also allows us to continue to invest in both Argos and Homebase, further extending our multichannel leadership and differentiated formats.
“This will maintain our competitive advantage and ensure the group remains well-placed for the future.”
