Argos owner Home Retail delivered a weaker-than-expected finish to the year at both its Argos and Homebase chains, although it said cost controls and improvements to its margin had helped the bottom line.

The group said it expected pretax profit for the year to be at the top end of market forecasts of £120 million to £132 million. Analysts on average expected 123 million, according to Reuters data.

The company said like-for-like sales at its bigger Argos chain fell 5 per cent in the eight weeks to end-February, falling far short of forecasts of a 0.2 per cent fall, reflecting poor demand for consumer electronic products.

Sales at its Homebase DIY chain on the same measure also disappointed, dropping by 0.9 per cent against predictions for a rise of 0.4 per cent.

Reuters