Carpetright (LON:CPR) posted a narrower loss in its full year results on Tuesday, returning to like-for-like sales growth in its new financial year.
Shares in the business were up 9.35% following the announcement.
The carpet retailer said that it made a statutory loss before tax of £24.8 million, which is less than the £69.8 million figure from the previous year.
Group revenue amounted to £386.4 million, 13.4% lower than last year’s £446.3 million.
Carpetright experienced a challenging first half in the UK, with like-for-like revenues down 12.7% as the business implemented the CVA restructuring plan.
Last year, its shareholders supported a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) restructuring plan which closed 80 underperforming stores.
Its UK performance in the second half saw a significant improvement with its like-for-like sales decline reduced to 5.4%, reducing even further in the fourth-quarter to 2.3%.
2018-2019 has been a “transitional” year for the business, Chief Executive Wilf Walsh said.
“We took tough but necessary action to address our legacy property issues and restructure the UK store estate. This difficult task was carried out against the backdrop of a challenging trading environment but was essential to put the business back on the path to sustainable profitability,” the Chief Executive continued.
Indeed, several retailers across the UK have struggled for survival amid the challenging trading environment to hit the retail sector.
Last April, the retailer issued its fourth profit warning in five months.
“From a trading standpoint it was, as expected, a year of two halves, with the first six months reflecting the impact of the CVA implementation, followed by a significant improvement in the second half and, in particular, during Q4.”
The company added that the business has returned to like-for-like sales growth in the first eight weeks of the period, with UK like-for-like sales ahead by 8.5%.
Shares in Carpetright plc (LON:CPR) were trading at +9.35% as of 09:22 BST Tuesday.