Carpetright profits crash

"Carpet King" Lord Harris today said his Carpetright empire was braced for two more tough years as it posted a 40 percent slump in annual profits.

The firm, which has issued three profit warnings this year, said it would not pay a final dividend.

"Looking forward, over the next two years we expect the consumer environment to remain difficult and have adapted our plans accordingly," said chairman and chief cxecutive Harris.

Carpetright, which trades from about 700 stores in Britain, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands, made an underlying pretax profit of £16.9 million in the year to April 30.

That compares with £28.2 million made in 2009/10.

The firm has suffered from a weak floor coverings market, the result of fragile consumer confidence.

Revenue fell 5.8 percent to £486.8 million.

Carpetright ended the year with net debt of £65.7 million.

With no final dividend, the full-year payout is 8 pence, down from 16 pence in 2009/10.

Shares in Carpetright, which has America's richest man Bill Gates as a 6 percent shareholder, have lost 7 percent of their value over the last three months.

The stock closed on Monday at 689 pence, valuing the business at about £466 million.