31 January 2017 – trading update
The company has released an update on trading for the 13 weeks ended 28 January 2017. Underlying profit before tax for the full year is forecast to be in the range of £13.9m to £16.5m for the full year and the company remains comfortable with this. Like-for-like sales for the four weeks to 28 January 2017 were up 6.8%. There are now 120 stores operating under the new brand identity and this should rise to 150 by the end of April. A pre-close update is due to be released on 25 April and preliminary results for the financial year ending 29 April 2017 will be announced on 27 June. The current share price remains low by historical levels and we retain our BUY rating.