Carpetright warns on profits again as sales in UK take a tumble

Having issued five profit warnings in 2011, the floor-coverings retailer Carpetright began the new year with another one.

In the past three months, sales in the UK fell 4.8 per cent and same-store sales were down 0.5 per cent. The rest of Europe produced same-store sales growth of 0.3 per cent.

Lord Harris of Peckham, chairman and chief executive, said that pre-tax profits for the year would be "slightly below the lower end of market expectations".

Neil Page, finance director, said he expected analysts to move their profit forecasts down from £8m-£12m to £6m-£8m.

Six years ago the group made a pre-tax profit of £67.7m.