Carpetright to beat profit forecasts as recovery continues

LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - Britain's biggest floor coverings retailer Carpetright (LSE: CPR.L - news) said on Tuesday full-year profit would be ahead of expectations after sales in its key home market continued to recover and trading improved overseas.

Sales at UK stores open more than a year rose 10.5 percent in its fourth quarter, ahead of a 7.5 percent third-quarter rise, as promotions and a new interest-free credit offer revitalised demand.

Like-for-like sales at its European business, made up of the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) , grew 2.4 percent.

"In light of this strong finish to the year, we now expect that underlying pretax profits for the full year will be above the current range of market expectations at around 13 million pounds ($19 million)," Chief Executive Wilf Walsh said.

The group, which issued several profit warnings last year due to tough trading in the Netherlands and weak demand in Britain, said its full-year UK gross profit margin would fall around 130 basis points and grow by around 250 basis points in Europe.

Carpetright, which trades from 459 stores in the UK and 137 in the Rest of Europe division, posted a full-year underlying pretax profit of 4.6 million pounds in 2013/14.

($1 = 0.6722 pounds) (Reporting by Neil Maidment; Editing by David Holmes)