(Reuters) - Flooring retailer Carpetright Plc said on Thursday it saw significant improvement in UK like-for-like sales in the fourth quarter as its restructuring efforts began to pay off.
Carpetright underwent a so-called company voluntary arrangement last year to restructure the business and identify dozens of stores for closure.
"The UK like-for-like sales trend improved significantly in the fourth quarter ... as customer confidence in the business started to return following the Group's restructuring last year," the company said.
High street blues over the last year have led to high profile bankruptcies including Toys R Us and Maplin Electronics and caused household names like Debenhams to fall into the hands of lenders. Carpetright's plan to restructure, however, seems to have spared it from the gloomy retail environment.
Carpetright's trading update implies an "improvement in like-for-like sales performance towards flat and a recovery in profitability sufficient to deliver a positive EBITDA for the full year, in line with our forecasts," Peel Hunt analysts said.
The company, which implemented a survival plan after negotiations with creditors in the past year, also said it was on course to achieve the annual cash savings target of 19 million pounds ($24.52 million) announced as part of a recapitalisation last year.
(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi and Karina Dsouza in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
