UK’s Carpetright Sees Challenging Year

London, England, December 11, 2007-- Specialist carpet and floor covering group Carpetright has forecast a tough second half as it moves closer to a takeover by chairman and founder Lord Harris, according to ShareCast.

“Our trading performance in Europe has been strong but market conditions in the UK in October have adversely affected the results for the first half although the second half has started strongly. We expect the rest of the year will be challenging,” the group said in a statement.

Discussions between the takeover consortium team, headed by Lord Harris and other senior management team members, over a proposal are at an advanced stage, the group said.

Profit before tax for the half-year increased 1.4% to £28.1m on sales that rose to £251m from £228m before.

Due to the takeover negotiations, an interim dividend has not been declared but if an offer is not forthcoming the group will declare an unchanged dividend of 20p per share for the period.

The group said it has made good progress across the group in the first half and added that it continues to focus on profitable growth and anticipates that net debt will have reduced significantly by the year end.