Furniture retailer forecasts bleak year-end figures for next March
Courts' fortunes are going from bad to worse, as the furniture retailer followed up a profit warning September with a further statement of bad performance today.

Although August Bank Holiday trading was in line with expectations, since then customer footfall has dropped below forecasted levels, generating orders below expectations.

The retailer said that like-for-like orders for the eight weeks after the August Bank Holiday was lower than the same period last year.

The retailer said in a statement: 'Revised estimates of the losses generated by the UK business lead the board to believe that the group's losses before tax for the year to march 31, 2005 will be significantly greater than current market expectations.'