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Our price levels are not as attractive as they should be he said

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"Our price levels are not as attractive as they should be," he said.Lord Wolfson said GUS' prices would need to come down by around 10 per cent and that costs would have to cut. Analysts have downgraded to pounds 420m-pounds 450m instead.Lord Wolfson admitted that GUS's catalogue prices had been too high. But current trading is worse with GUS's home shopping business struggling against a weak retail market which is being hit by pre-Christmas discounting.GUS said the tough trading conditions meant it would not meet market expectations of pounds 500m pre-tax profit for the full year. "He skimmed over the presentation and didn't treat questions with the respect they deserved."The comments came as GUS reported a 12 per cent fall in half year pre- tax profits to pounds 176m, if exceptional charges are excluded. "What was alarming was the sense of contempt for investors and analyst concerns," one said.

"These are all signs of a business in disarray," one analyst said.Analysts were also unconvinced by the recovery plan outlined by Lord Wolfson, GUS' chairman, and his apparent dismissal of City fears. Profits at the division sank by 70 per cent to just pounds 14.5m due to other issues such as rising bad debts and distribution problems. Several expressed concerns about the future of the group's declining "big book" catalogue business. Sales at GUS home shopping division, which includes the Kays catalogue, fell by 7 per cent in the six months to September as shoppers defected to cheaper high street rivals like Matalan and New Look. However, the company said the board brought forward his departure to coincide with the AGM and a scheduled internal managers conference which would give Mr Leschly a chance to bid farewell.. GREAT UNIVERSAL Stores, Britain's largest home shopping company, issued its third profits warning in three years yesterday blaming falling sales of clothing through its major catalogues.

GUS shares fell 20 per cent to 340.5p, their lowest level since early 1993, as analysts cut their full year profit forecasts. There are many medical professionals in the US who have established themselves on the web."SB said it would be against its culture for Mr Leschly to become chairman of the group having enjoyed an executive role. Mr Leschly would have been obliged to retire in September at his 60th birthday. A spokesperson declined to rule out a website named after Mr Leschly "It's not so far-fetched.

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