Weak electricals market hurts sales at Argos
SHARES in Home Retail Group rose three per cent yesterday after the Argos owner said it was upbeat on prospects for the second half of the year, despite a decline in sales.
Like-for-like sales at Argos declined 3.9 per cent to £846m over the 13 weeks to the end of May, after weak demand for electrical goods such as TVs and laptops, with total sales falling 2.6 per cent on 2014.
In contrast like-for-like sales at Homebase jumped 5.4 per cent.
The company said it still expects sales in the first half of the year to be challenging as it works through a transformation plan to turn Argos into a digital-led business.
However chief executive John Walden said it “looks forward to a stronger second half”.