Its pre-tax profit fell to £124.5m in the six months ended 30 June 2008 compared with £128.6m the same a year earlier. Sales rose 5.4% to £1.7bn. Overall, like-for-like sales rose by 0.8%.

"We expect our markets to weaken further as the year progresses, confirmed by trading in July," the group said in a company statement.

The group is reducing net debt through a combination of lowering overheads, reducing working capital and constraining capital expenditure.