CHIEFS of a Kidderminster carpet firm have made a gloomy prediction about prospects for the rest of their financial year, despite an increase in sales and turnover.
With the announcement of interim results due next month, Victoria Carpets has said customer confidence has deteriorated, with house prices falling and sales of houses at low levels.
Spending by consumers on items like carpets had taken a downturn, prompting Victoria to accelerate its introduction of new products.
Excluding Axminster, sales and turnover had risen by 4.1 per cent to the end of August.
In a statement, the company said: "While it is pleasing to be able to make any progress in the current environment, we have been prevented from reaching the levels of sales that we had expected to achieve by the worsening market conditions."
Sales of "value" products, which generated a lower margin for the carpet-maker, meant improvements in the profitability of continuing business had still to come through.
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