Laura Ashley's first-half loss widens as home furnishings stutters

(Reuters) - Troubled clothing and furnishing retailer Laura Ashley <ALY.L> saw pretax losses more than double in the first half of the year, hurt by weak demand for home furnishing products.

The company, which secured the backing this week of its main banking lender to continue operations, is among a growing band of British retailers to encounter difficulties over the past few years, with falling sales leading to store closures.

"We have seen a combination of factors impact our results, ranging from higher costs largely driven by the Brexit uncertainty, minimum wages and business rates increases," Chairman Andrew Khoo said.

The company, however, said it had started to implement the recommendations of a strategic review it carried out last year.

"The management team is encouraged by the early signs of the turnaround strategy," the company said in a statement.

Laura Ashley posted a pretax loss of 4 million pounds for the six months ended Dec. 31, compared with 1.5 million pounds a year earlier.

The retailer has also been undergoing a turnaround, and said on Thursday that Chief Operating Officer Katharine Poulter, whose promotion to the CEO role was announced last month, will take the helm with immediate effect.

The company, whose sales were flat for the first seven weeks this year, also said it is exploring new international opportunities for expansion with a focus on Asia.

(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick Graham)