Carpetright Sales Fall Sharply

London, England, Aug. 5, 2008--Carpetright reported Tuesday a sharp fall in first quarter sales in its key UK & Ireland business and reiterated that it expects a difficult market for the balance of its financial year ending next April.

For the 13 weeks to August 2 same store sales in the 559-store chain, which strips out the impact of new space, fell 15.4 percent.

This compares to a fall of 2.7 percent in the year to May 3.

Total sales in the UK & Ireland division fell 14.8 percent.

Gross margin in the division did, however, see 'further improvement.'

'The trading environment in the UK has become more difficult and we can see this continuing for the rest of our financial year. However, we believe that our recent operational improvements enhance our resilience to challenging market conditions and that our strong competitive position will enable the business to continue to grow market share,'said Lord Harris, Carpetright's founder, executive chairman and largest shareholder.

Harris warned last month that the current year would be one of the most difficult he has faced in 50 years in the industry.