John Lewis of Hungerford warns on annual loss

John Lewis of Hungerford warned it expects to post an annual loss after second-half sales came in below forecasts.

The kitchen and furniture maker said it had suffered a slowdown in turning deposits into firm orders. In a trading statement, it blamed weak consumer confidence cause by uncertainty over Brexit and the weak retail climate.

Sales for the second half of the year to the end of June will be about 10% higher than a year earlier but about £400,000 lower than expected, the AIM-listed company said.

John Lewis of Hungerford said on 18 March it expected to recover most of its first-half loss as customer enquiries and higher conversions, helped by staff training, boosted business. But updating investors, the company said it no longer expected to recover the loss.

“We have experienced a slowdown in converting deposits taken into full orders,” the company said.

“We believe this is primarily due to the prevailing market conditions impacting customer confidence, which remain affected by uncertainty due to Brexit and the retail climate generally.”