Safestyle UK has warned it is due to report a £6million pre-tax loss in the face of challenging market conditions.
Inflation and high interest rates have put even more pressure on disposable incomes and weakened consumer confidence as well as hiking the cost of the retailer’s finance product, according to its half-year trading forecast.
The Group expects to report £74m revenue for the half-year, a drop of 5.4% on H1 2022.
Order intake fell 6.4% in value against ‘22 and its H1 order book closed 22% lower than an ‘unusually strong’ H1 last year. The board forecasts this to be an ongoing trend to the extent the group’s full year performance is now expected to be materially below current market expectations.
The report also states: “The board initiated the largest efficiency and cost reduction programme for many years which, regrettably, included a small number of redundancies at all levels across the business. These actions equate to a c.£2m annualised saving from levels at the start of 2023.
It adds: “The board continues to forecast an underlying profit before taxation for H2, now expected to be c.£0.5m. This performance level represents ongoing delivery of monthly profitability established at the end of H1 into H2. The Board also remains confident that the Group will continue to deliver market share growth for the remainder of the year.”
