Bonmarché reports a 55% increase in pretax profit to £12.4m

Bonmarché, the women’s clothing retailer based in Wakefield, has reported significant growth in both revenue and sales over the past financial year, which ended 28 March, 2015.

Over the last twelve months, Bonmarché experienced an 8.7% increase in revenue at £178.6m, compared to £164.3m in 2014.

The retailers’ like-for-like sales, which represent 86.9% of its sales, also rose 4.0%, 6.0% including online. This increase is mainly the result of Bonmarché opening 29 new stores, which contributed £8.3m of additional sales, bringing its total store portfolio to 292 stores at the end of the financial year.

However, Bonmarché didn’t perform as strongly in the second half of the year due to the mild weather conditions throughout most of last Autumn. During this period, sales increased by 5.7% but store like-for-like sales only rose by 0.2%.

These figures reflect that customers had less reason than normal to purchase heavier clothing such as knitwear and coats, when these types of items were being introduced in stores.

But the retailer’s strongest results were the 55% growth in pre-tax profit to £12.4m, which is a £4.4m rise from last year’s total of £7.9m.

Beth Butterwick, chief executive of Bonmarché, commented: “I am satisfied with the current year’s performance, in a year of contrasts between a strong performance in the first half, supported by good weather, versus a more challenging second half of the year.

“Against this backdrop, we have continued to deliver improvements across the business and have achieved solid profit growth. The Group’s financial position is sound, and we enter the new financial year with a strong balance sheet and confidence in our ongoing growth strategy.”