Bonmarché sees moderate increase in sales over the past year

Bonmarché, one of the UK’s largest women retailers, has announced an increase in sales of 8.7% when releasing its trading update for the 52 week period ended Saturday 28 March 2015.

As well as seeing an increase in overall sales for the year ending 28 March 2015, Bonmarché additionally experienced a 4.0% rise in like-for-like sales, and a 6.0% increase online.

The Wakefield retailer, however, didn’t see the same growth in the second half of the year, specifically from the 13 week period ending 28 March 2015. Although total sales once again grew by 0.9%, its like-for-like sales declined by 4.7%, 3.3% including online.

The comparable figures for the fourth quarter last year were +13.5% for LFL stores only, and +16.3% for LFL stores plus online.

As of 28 March 2015, Bonmarché traded from 292 stores/concessions, which is up from 263 stores in March 2014.

The board remains satisfied with the retailer’s financial position, and the retailer will enter the new financial year with a strong balance sheet.

Beth Butterwick, chief executive officer of Bonmarché, said: “This has been a year of contrasts. A strong performance in the first half was supported by good summer weather, however the mild autumn created more difficult trading conditions in the second half of the year. Against this backdrop, we expect to report solid profit growth.

“During the second half of the year in particular, the loyalty of our core customers and our ability to maintain a tight control on costs have been key strengths. I am also pleased that through the targeted use of promotions and discounts, the terminal stock holding at the end of the year was almost as low as it was last year, despite the increase in stores.

“We remain focussed on implementing our strategy and I look forward to providing an update on our progress when I present our preliminary results on 12 June”