Carpetright Expects Poor Retail Conditions Ahead

London, England, Aug. 2, 2011 -- Carpetright, Britain's largest flooring retailer, said it did it sees a challenging time ahead and does not expect the retail environment to pick up soon.

The firm said the UK carpet market was down 15-20% over the past year.

Carpetright has issued three profit warnings this year. It said sales at UK stores open over a year fell 0.2 percent in the 12 weeks to July 23, the bulk of its fiscal first quarter.

That represented a significant improvement on a decline of 6.3% in the fourth quarter of the previous year.

The firm said the better sales performance reflected price cuts, as well as expansion into bed sales laminates.