Bonmarché set to deliver growth in profit 'despite the challenging market'

Bonmarché, the Wakefield-headquartered women’s retailer, is expecting to see financial growth “despite the challenging market.”

The fashion retailer has revealed that sales for the 14 weeks ending 1st April 2017 increased by 2.7% against the corresponding period in the previous year.

Store like-for-like sales decreased by 0.5%, despite online sales growing by 15.2%.

As for the 53 weeks ending 1st April 2017, sales decreased by 0.5%; store like-for-like sales decreased by 4.3% and online sales grew by 2.2%.

As of 1st April 2017, Bonmarché traded from 327 stores/concessions and online.

The full results for the 53 week period ending 1st April 2017 will be published on Monday, 19th June 2017.

Helen Connolly, chief executive officer of Bonmarche, said: “As anticipated, trading conditions post-Christmas continued to be challenging, but this was accounted for when we issued the revised profit guidance last September, and therefore the final result for the year is in line with our expectations.

“Store like-for like sales were negative in January but stronger during February and March, and we also saw the resumption of growth in online sales following improvements made to our online offering.

“Whilst we expect the apparel market to remain challenging during the coming financial year, we are actively taking measures to improve our proposition to customers.

“We remain confident that Bonmarché remains unique in its ability to serve the needs of its target market and that the successful implementation of our plan will allow us to deliver growth in FY18, despite the challenging market.”