Caribbean loses shine for Courts

THE shock waves of the 11 September atrocities in the US have reached furniture retailer Courts, which today blamed Americans cancelling their Caribbean holidays for a plunge into the red.

Courts, which relies on Caribbean householders for 30% of its sales, said the sharp downturn had forced locals, many of whom depend on tourism, to defer or scrap their furniture-buying plans.

'Tourism is the biggest industry in the Caribbean,' said chief executive Bruce Cohen. '70% of tourists are Americans and two-thirds have cancelled.'

Like-for-like sales in the region fell 11% but South-East Asia, where like-for-likes dropped by 22%, has recovered markedly in the past few weeks. Worldwide sales fell from £325m to £310m. The group reported a pre-tax loss of £1.4m against profits last time of £9.9m. The interim dividend was held at 1.1p a share.