Chief executive Ian Cheshire said the company expected market conditions to remain challenging.

BBC: B&Q owner Kingfisher profits hit by wet weather

Tariq Hassan, from Essex, and Osama Al Baghdady, from Manchester, both received four-year jail sentences, while a fifth defendant, Ian Sherwood, from Cheshire, was jailed for three-and-a-half years for allowing his offices to be used for the fraud.

BBC: Film fraudsters jailed over tax scam

"Persistent low-level rudeness and disruption seems to have become a fact of life in education today and no longer raises eyebrows or seems to merit special attention, " said Dr Ian Lancaster, a secondary school teacher from Cheshire.

BBC: Teachers report widespread abuse