Listed butcher issues further profit warning

Rotherham based butcher Crawshaw Group has today issued a profit warning as trading performance across its high street shops continues to remain challenging.

The listed business this morning published a trading update ahead of its interim results, which are due to be published next month. Half year like-for-like sales were -13.2% (-12.9% for the first 20 weeks). Group sales for the first half of the year were £21.6m (H117: £22.1m).

Crawshaw said: “Rising shop rents and high business rates along with lower footfall and increased discounter competition, has directly impacted sales and profitability as expected.”

Due to the continued challenging trading, the Board expect the full year Group sales to January 2019 to be flat on the previous year and underlying operating loss of approximately £3m. The Group had £3.3m cash at 29 July 2018 (£4.7m at 28 January 2018).

In May, the firm announced Jim Viggars, previously head of fresh meat at Asda, had been appointed CEO and Nick Taylor as CFO. This followed a series of drops in sales and profitability across the group. At the start of this year, Crawshaw said it had accelerated its plans to shift its focus towards factory shops after an “indifferent” Christmas and issues on the high street.

Crawshaw this morning said: “The new leadership team who joined the business in late May have identified the core issues affecting the business and will announce how it plans to rectify those issues and drive the business forward with its interim results. The Group has maintained margin investment in response to the continued competitive environment.”