Card Factory has issued a warning about lower profits due to “well-publicised” pressures on the high street. The retail chain has reported ongoing challenges with low high street footfall during the crucial festive trading period, indicating UK store sales have fallen short of previous expectations.

It has predicted a lower adjusted pre-tax profit than last year of between £55million and £60million, unless trading significantly improves. The group had previously predicted “mid-to-high single digit” percentage growth from the previous year’s result of £66million. In September, its adjusted profits were reported down 9% to £13.2million.

In a trading update today, December 12, a spokesperson for the Card Factory said: “Over recent months, the pressures facing the UK consumer have been well publicised. It is an inescapable fact that these pressures have impacted consumer confidence and shopping behaviour, contributing to soft high street footfall.

“Those conditions have persisted as we moved into our most important trading period, leading to a UK store sales performance which is lower than our previous expectations.

“On the assumption that current trading trends persist over the remaining seven weeks of our financial year, we now expect to deliver adjusted Profit Before Tax for the full financial year between £55m and £60m.”

The board said it remains confident in Card Factory’s long-term strategy, including its ‘Simplify and Scale’ productivity and efficiency programme, which aims to mitigate the impact of inflation.

The retailer has more than 1,000 stores across the UK and Ireland, but it said performance in the Republic of Ireland and North America has remained in line with expectations, and its integration of Funky Pigeon is on track.