Laura Ashley sales tumble 10%

December 20th, 2008 by admin | Filed under Daily News, Recession, Retail, UK Small Business.

Yet another big high street name has reported plunging sales.

Fashion and home furnishings chain Laura Ashley says like-for-like sales for the past five months have fallen compared to the same period last year due to “tough trading conditions.”

Sales are down 9.9% during the 20 weeks to 13 December.

The company said it should meet its targets for the financial year and blamed the “the current economic climate combined with the effects of new store openings” for the drop in like-for-like sales.

The dollar and the pound have weakened further as interest rate cuts continue to undermine the two currencies.

The dollar fell to $1.423 against the euro after the Federal Reserve cut rates to between zero and 0.25% earlier this week.

The pound also hit a new record low against the euro of 1.057 euros on the expectation of further cuts in interest rates by the Bank of England.

Some money exchanges at Heathrow airport were offering less than 1 euro for £1.

The pound has also weakened against the dollar, falling by almost 4 cents to $1.505.

The yen fell against the dollar after the Japanese government said it might intervene to weaken the currency.

Camera-maker Polaroid has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US amid allegations of a £3 billion fraud by the founder of its parent group, Tom Petters.

Petters Group Worldwide has owned Polaroid since 2005. Polaroid says Petters is under investigation for an alleged fraud against the company that has jeopardised its financial status.

The firm is ‘restructuring’ and claims to have enough cash to cover any losses.

On the markets, the FTSE stood more or less still again, closing six points up on the opening price of 4324 at 4330 and the in New York, the DOW fell 219 from 8824 to 8605.