Clinton cards suffers further sales drop
British greetings card company Clinton Cards delivered a further gloomy message to shareholders today after the downturn in sales at its core business gathered pace.
The firm said like-for-like sales at its Clinton Cards brand fell 7.1% in the 16 weeks to November 16, compared with the 5.2% decline reported last month for the nine weeks to October 5.
The company’s loss-making Birthdays brand maintained its rate of decline at 2.5%.
Clinton operates 14 stores in Ireland as well as 52 in the North.
The Essex-based company told investors ahead of its annual general meeting: “Trading remains very challenging and clearly reflects the current harsh economic conditions which are affecting so many businesses at this time.”
A month after shares fell 27% in the wake of full-year results, the stock slid 20% today as the City reacted to the latest gloomy sales figures.
The company currently has 1,042 stores, comprising 697 Clinton stores and 345 Birthdays stores.
Since the beginning of the financial period in August, it opened 12 new stores and closed 21.
It recently unveiled pre-tax losses of £13.1m (€15.3m) for the year to August 3, compared with profits of £15.1m (€17.7m) in 2007.
