Floorcoverings group Headlam confident of reaching full year targets

COLESHILL-based floorcoverings group Headlam has said it is confident of meeting full year targets provided pre-Christmas trading targets are met.

The company said that for the nine months to September 30, 2014, the group’s revenue increased by 6% compared to last year.

As anticipated, it said the incremental trading performance during the third quarter was less than the like for like achieved during the first six months due to the stronger Q3 comparatives for last year.

In the UK, Q3 like for like revenues increased by 4.5% compared with the same quarter last year and as a consequence, the nine month like for like performance of 6.6% was slightly softer than the 7.9% improvement reported at this year’s half way stage.  

The revenue contribution from acquisitions increased by £6.4m compared with the previous year, taking the nine month performance to £9.7m.
 
During the nine month period, revenues from the group’s Continental European businesses, measured in constant currency, decreased by 1.5% due to further deterioration in the collective performance during Q3.  On translation to sterling, the revenue deficit for the period amounted to 6.5%.
 
The group’s gross margin for the nine month period has shown a slight improvement compared with the position at half year and is now 40 basis points below the equivalent position last year.  The firm said the improvement was the result of modest progress in both the UK and on the Continent.
 
Tony Brewer, Headlam’s Group Chief Executive, said: “UK revenues during October maintained the positive trend with like for like performance in line with quarter three whilst revenues achieved by the Continental businesses showed further slippage.
 
“Subject to group trading targets being achieved during November and December, the board remain confident that the group will deliver its internal performance objective for 2014.”