Despite a 4 per cent rise in revenue at the arm, trading results for the home shopping group revealed a pre-tax loss ofÂŁ600,000 for the half year ended October 31.
European Home Shopping chief executive William Rollason said: 'The period has been in line with expectations and represents the first full six months of trading with all of our new acquisitions. We are, however, not immune to the overall economic conditions and November trading results for Kleeneze Europe have seen revenue fall below expectations. As a result, we expect current year profit before taxation and amortisation to be not less thanÂŁ3.5 million.'
The results were interpreted by retail analyst Nick Bubb as a 'mild profit warning'.
The group still managed to up its dividend to 1.12p as revenue at the group notched up a rise of 28 per cent in turnover toÂŁ101.6 million fromÂŁ79.4 million, reflecting the contribution of the recently acquired internet businesses.
Revenue at the online business for the first six months wasÂŁ9.4 million, compared withÂŁ100,000 the previous year. There was an operating loss ofÂŁ1.7 million compared withÂŁ100,000 last year.
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