Group like-for-like sales for the 23 weeks to January 6 were up 5.7 per cent, but the run-up to Christmas was slightly slower, rising 4.5 per cent in the final eight weeks of the period. The retailer said that, despite rising operating costs, full-year profits would be ahead of expectations, helped by an improvement in the gross margin.
In the sports division, like-for-likes were also up 5.7 per cent for the 23-week period and 5 per cent in the final eight weeks, against strong Christmas comparatives.
But, in the final run-up to Christmas, performance took a turn for the worse in the fashion stores, suffering a 0.5 per cent like-for-like fall in the last eight weeks.
The store group blamed an increasingly competitive branded fashion sector, but said that its ongoing store disposal programme would help future performance.
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