Financial highlights
- Total sales held level at £2,736m (2007: £2,737m), with like-for-like sales down 3.0% at Argos and down 10.3% at Homebase
- Gross margin held approximately level in total, down by 75 basis points at Argos and ahead by 125 basis points at Homebase
- Operating expenses up 3%, driven by underlying inflation of approximately 4% at Argos and 3% at Homebase, with all other operating expenses held level
- Benchmark operating profit1 down 22% to £106m (2007: £136m), with a decline of 14% at Argos and 37% at Homebase
- Reported operating loss of £450m after exceptional charges including Homebase non-cash asset write downs and onerous lease provisions of £542m
- Benchmark profit before tax2 down 19% to £121m (2007: £150m); reported loss before tax of £437m
- Basic benchmark earnings per share3 down 18% to 9.6p (2007: 11.7p); reported basic loss per share of 51.3p
- Cash generation of £101m, benefiting principally from further improvement in working capital management
- Closing financing net cash position of £275m versus year-end of £174m
- Interim dividend maintained at 4.7p (2007: 4.7p)
