Struggling Carpetright warns it is facing a loss

CARPETRIGHT, which has seven stores in Northern Ireland, has warned it is set to swing to a fullyear loss and said it has started talks with its lenders as the woes in the retail sector show no sign of letting up.

In its second profit warning in less than two months, the firm said trading has remained under pressure, with like-for-like sales still falling despite a small improvement since January.

It has kicked off talks with its lenders to ensure it does not breach the terms of its bank loans and is looking at options to speed up a trading turnaround, although it said plans were at an “early stage”.

The warning comes in a dire week for the retail sector after the collapse of Toys R Us and Maplin on Wednesday, which has threatened thousands of jobs.

Carpetright said: “Although the important Easter trading period is still to come, UK like-forlike sales remain below management expectations and the group now expects to report a small underlying pre-tax loss for the year ending April 28, 2018.”

The company said its lenders had signalled they remain “fully supportive”.

Carpetright sparked a shares crash in January when it warned over profits and said like-for-like UK sales had fallen 3.6% in the 11 weeks ending January 13 — its crucial Christmas trading period.

It had earlier warned over the full-year outlook in December.

The chain has blamed weak consumer confidence for the sales woes, which it said has continued since the start of the year.

The group has 416 stores in the UK and 552 worldwide.