Matalan has been forced to cull head office jobs as it squeezes costs.
Matalan chief executive John King said the retailer stopped recruiting a year ago because it was struggling against aggressive high street competition.
He added that certain head office roles had been merged. 'Our head office is certainly smaller than it was a year ago,' he said. However, he refused to divulge numbers.
The retailer has reversed the downward trend of last autumn, with same-store sales up 3.1 per cent in the nine weeks to May 1. It has also maintained gross margins by reducing supplier numbers, and started buying fabric in bulk for the group as a whole.
Matalan posted a slump in preliminary pre-tax profits of£60.7 million, from£117.4 million last year. Sales were flat at£1.04 billion and like-for-likes fell 6.5 per cent.
- Analysis: page 10.
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