Department store keeps margins by resisting the urge to discount
Beatties has been hit by poor trading over Christmas. Like-for-like sales for the seven weeks to January 7 were 2.1 per cent down on the year before. However, excluding exceptional items, the retailer expects results for the year to be in-line with analysts expectations.

Beatties was at pains to draw attention to the fact that it did not resort to pre-Christmas discounts, enabling it to keep the integrity of its pricing and margins.