Christmas gifts for Home Retail
ARGOS and Homebase owner Home Retail cheered investors with a better-than-expected Christmas performance, sending its shares soaring.
The group’s stock rose 21p to 227p after it said sales fell less than anticipated at both Argos and Homebase in the run-up to Christmas. It forecast annual profits of between £260million and £265million.
Sales at Argos stores fell 4.9 per cent in the 18 weeks to January 1, compared with an expected 5.7 per cent. Homebase like-for-like sales fell 1.2 per cent, compared with an expected 2 per cent.
Chief executive Terry Duddy said the snow before Christmas cost it between £20million and £30million but the Argos “check and reserve” service – whereby customers order goods online and collect them from stores – helped it to overcome the weather.
Argos doubled sales of laptops and also did well with toys, although games consoles and TVs sold less well.