By Daniel Hunter
Sofa and home carpet retailer ScS has blamed the general election for a 15% fall in sales over the past month.
Like-for-like sales, which exclude new stores, were down 15.9% in the four weeks to 2 May. ScS then lost a quarter of its value as shares fell 25% to 163.75p.
It said that consumers were put off big purchases as the general election neared, with prices being lowered as a result.
But it's not all the election's fault. ScS also blamed warmer weather in April.
In a statement, ScS said: “Trading over the Easter bank holiday weekend and the first May bank holiday has been impacted by a period of warmer weather which coincided with peak sales periods, resulting in lower footfall in stores which, together with uncertainty over the outcome of the general election, has significantly lowered customers’ confidence in committing to big-ticket purchases and resulted in higher levels of market discounting.”
It said that pre-tax profits are likely to be between £11 million and £12m for its financial year, which ends in July. It would mean a fall from last year's profit of £12.9m.
