Luxury retailer halves loss to £2.2m
The luxury London retailer Liberty has reduced its pre-tax loss to£2.2 million for the year to December 2006, compared with£4.4 million the previous year.

It said that it 'views the future with cautious optimism', because sales at its flagship Regent Street store increased 6.4 per cent to£31.6 million, despite a 20 per cent decrease in sales space.

Chairman Richard Balfour-Lynn said that he was working on rolling out the Liberty of London format either elsewhere in London or overseas. He said that it could either take the form of a store within a store or a standalone store. Balfour-Lynn added that 'discussions are ongoing' regarding a new distribution agreement for the Liberty of London luxury label in Japan.

Like-for-like sales for the year were up to£44 million from£42.5 million for the same period the year before. Menswear sales increased 14 per cent and ladieswear and accessories also continued to improve.

The company has changed its year end from June 30 to December 31 and that for the 18 months to December last year, it had made a pre-tax loss of£2.05 million against a£2.62 million loss for the year to June 2005.