[ad_1]
Dec 14 (Reuters) – British kitchenware brand ProCook Plc ( PROC.L ) said on Wednesday that its sales from Black Friday and early Christmas shopping were weaker than last year, as consumers cut spending amid a growing living crisis.
Rising inflation in Britain, with the rising cost of everything from food to fuel, has forced consumers to tighten their belts over the holiday period as they struggle to pay their bills.
In November, British shoppers focused on key grocery essentials and avoided more discretionary Christmas items, market researcher NielsenIQ said.
“While traffic and footfall remain reasonably strong, conversion rates, both in-store and online, remain significantly lower year-over-year,” Procook said.
The company saw a loss of 2.8 million pounds ($3.47 million) as customers limited their purchases to essential items. Gross margin increased to 61% in the first half due to lower shipping and transport costs and foreign exchange effects.
“We are taking cost measures to manage current pressures,” Chief Executive Officer Daniel O’Neill said.
The company said it had launched plans to cut operating costs by 3 million pounds annually.
“The market was down more than 6% in the period, so further progress was always going to be tough, especially since shipping gross margins were so tight,” Peel Hunt analysts said in a note.
ProCook, which is in the process of exiting the Amazon marketplace, said revenue in the first eight weeks of the second half of the year beginning Oct. 17 was down 5.7% from a year earlier.
Last week, the company cut its revenue estimates and said it expects pre-tax profit to be around breakeven in the full year.
($1 = 0.8078 pounds)
Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Janan Venkataraman
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
[ad_2]
Source link
