Listed fabric wholesale issues profit warning

Leeds Group, the wholesaler of fabrics and haberdashery, has this morning issued a profit warning

The listed firm, which has bases in Yeadon and Drighlington, this morning updated the market on its expectations for the financial year ending 31 May 2019.

Leeds Group said: “Trading performance of the operating subsidiaries in the second half of the year has been below the Board’s expectations as market conditions have not improved and this is expected to continue for the rest of the financial year. The Group profit before tax for the full year is therefore expected to be below the Board’s expectations for the current financial year.”

In January, publisihing its six-month results to 30 November 2018, the firm’s turnover stood at £21.8m, down from £22.1m during the same period in the previous year. However, pre-tax profits rose to £1.1m, up from £628,000 in the previous period. 

At the time, Leeds Group chairman Jan Holmstrom said: “Market conditions have been challenging with increased competition in a reduced market place.”  

This morning, the firm added: “As noted in our Interim Report, trading performance at our operating subsidiaries has been challenging with increased competition in a reduced market in the first half of the year. Despite this, the Board believed, at that time, that the underlying profit before tax for the full year would be at a higher level than last year.”

It is undergoing cost cutting across the group’s subsidiaries.

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