Shares digital

The Easter weekend was one of the coldest for many years and compared badly with last year for retailers, leading to more gloom for the High Street.

This year many shoppers preferred to chill out at home rather than brace the winds on the chilly high streets, while last year’s Easter holiday was much later and warmer.

Traditionally, Easter is important for garden centres and the DIY trade, but Kingfisher (KGF), whose results are due today, would have been hit by the poor weather. This is particularly bad news as the market is already expecting it to announce a big cut in the dividend.

Department stores usually do well in cold weather, being more appealing than the High Street, which is good news for Debenhams (DEB), although the store that has probably benefited most is John Lewis because of its wider product range and smaller commitment to fashion. Fellow clothes stores Marks & Spencer (MKS) and Next (NXT) will have been hit by fewer numbers of punters willing to hit the streets.

The British Retail Consortium has indicated that sales of big ticket items such as furniture and flooring are still depressed, which will be unwelcome news to Carpetright (CPR) and furniture retailers such as ScS Upholstery (SUY) and Land of Leather (LAN), both of which have already issued profit warnings. ScS’s interims are due as we go to press and Land of Leather’s are published today with both expected to make bleak reading.

However its not all doom and gloom. David Stoddart of Altium, believes that Game Group (GMG) should continue to benefit from the increased popularity of games, making it one of the more attractive companies in the sector. Its shares have ticked up recently to 197.5p but are still well below last year’s highs around 250p

Shares says: Easter was a non-event for many retailers.

BUY Game Group

AVOID Kingfisher M&S, Next, Carpetright

by: John Marshall

The writer holds shares in Kingfisher, M&S and Next.