Lewis share price falls to new low
The furniture retailer says its performance reflects the challenging environment and how these conditions have affected its lower- to middle-income customers
The share price of furniture retailer Lewis Group slumped to a new low of R26.50 on Friday after a downbeat trading update. The update advised shareholders that earnings for the six months ended-September would be 12% to 18% lower than the comparative period in financial 2017. The expected range for earnings was 161.2c/share to 173c/ share, management said. The share price weakened although the performance appeared to be in line with analysts’ expectations and mirrored results of the past two halves. The performance reflected the challenging economic and consumer environment and the effect of these tough conditions on the group’s lower-to middle-income target customers, management said in the update. “Trading conditions have been compounded by the ongoing impact of the National Credit Act’s affordability assessment regulations, which are restricting access to credit in SA and limiting the group’s credit sales,” Lewis said. Merchandise sales increased 5% with comparable sales up 7.3%...
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