Card Factory half-year comparable sales decline on bad weather

(Reuters) - Greeting cards and gift seller Card Factory Plc <CARDC.L> posted a drop in half-year sales, hurt by weak traffic and dwindling UK consumer confidence on the British high street.

Card Factory, which operates over 900 stores, said half-year like-for-like sales fell 0.2 percent, compared to a 3.1 percent rise a year ago.

The company, which said in April core earnings growth in 2019 would be hurt by bad weather, said on Thursday it now expects underlying EBITDA for 2019 to be 89 million pounds to 91 million pounds.

(Reporting by Sangameswaran S and Justin George Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)