Laura Ashley hit by 'unlucky' weather

Laura Ashley's struggling fashion range combined with "unlucky" weather to push the retailer's first-half profits 11 percent lower.

The sofas-to-wallpaper group blamed the summer heatwave and spring freeze for six months of deteriorating performance, with like-for-like sales falling 2.2 percent in the six months to the end of July and pre-tax profits dropping to £7.4 million.

Fashion sales slumped 6.6 percent on a like-for-like basis during the half, worse than the 4.8 percent drop seen across the whole of last year.

And the retailer admitted there is more to do to reverse falling clothing sales, with a 1.3 percent drop in like-for-like group sales in the eight weeks to September 21 driven by more "underperformance" from fashion.

Chief financial officer Sean Anglim said: "We know we've not got everything right. We are continually reviewing our fashion collection and trends. Fashion operates on quite long lead times.

"But we are comfortable we will get it right. For the second half we have done things better."

He said bigger rival Marks & Spencer has "thrown a lot at us" with its new star-studded advertising campaign for its autumn/winter fashion range, but added it is too early to say what the impact will be.

The retailer, which is 60 years old this year, earns about four-fifths of its sales from home furnishings.

Sales of home accessories such as bed linen and lamps fell 2.7 percent on an underlying basis, while decorating sales were down 1.6 percent.

But sales of furniture ranging from sofas to mirrors remained in positive territory during the half, climbing 0.7 percent on an underlying basis, and Laura Ashley said it is "encouraged" by growth in this more expensive category.

Mr Anglim, who is also chief operating officer, said it is too soon to say if Britain's improving housing market is feeding through to its home business, but added underlying home furnishings sales have risen 0.8 percent in the past eight weeks.