Woolworths hit by poor entertainment sales

Woolworths today warned sales were running more than 4% lower after a weak batch of entertainment releases added to general trading difficulties.

In the latest gloomy trading update from the British retail sector, Woolies said business remained difficult with the outlook for consumer spending poor.

The figures, which cover the period since the end of January, indicated a worsening trend as like-for-like sales – 3% lower than a year earlier in April - declined to show a 4.4% deterioration in the 18-week period.

Woolworths put much of the drop down to a comparatively weaker release schedule in entertainment, which covers music, video, games and books. Stripping out this area, like-for-like sales were 0.3% down on last year, it added,

The company said it would respond to the downturn by shifting the focus at its 800 stores to higher profit areas, such as homeware, toys and clothing.

But it also told shareholders not to expect “any special return of cash” this year as it said such a move would be “inappropriate” at a time when it faced an uncertain retail outlook and a major store refurbishment project.