CLOTHING and home furnishings retailer Laura Ashley yesterday said improvements to its store portfolio helped to increase first-half profits.
Pre-tax profits rose by a third to £4m this year to July 28, while sales increased 6.9 per cent to £113.9m as the firm benefited from new store openings.
The group has 196 sites in the UK, up from 178 last summer, but said that the impact of revisions to its portfolio hit UK like-for-like sales, which slipped by 7.1 per cent. Laura Ashley, which has a store in Middlesbrough, said like-for-like sales, excluding the impact of its store improvement programme, were down by 3.9 per cent after poor furniture sales during tougher conditions on the high street.
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