Paul Kelly said 2007 will beat 2006 – the company’s best year to date – “by a mile” when it lodges its full-year figures for the year to the end of this month.
Although Kelly declined to give specific figures, it is understood that like-for-like sales have risen just shy of 10 per cent and that profits are likely to be up more than 20 per cent on the£65 million achieved in 2006.
The luxury sector has been one of the big success stories of the past year. Although there have been concerns about the impact of the global economic slowdown, Kelly said he is confident that Selfridges can ride out the crisis in the financial markets.
“Customers want new things and when there’s all this doom and gloom around they want some excitement. People are talking about house prices going down, but so what? You don’t sell your house every day. Most people are getting paid as much as they were a year ago and there are a lot of people making money.”
He said accessories and menswear had driven the strong performance in 2007, with food also performing well and the Wonder Room, which opened in the Oxford Street store in September, getting off to a strong start.
Kelly added that the Sale had been successful in clearing excess stock, enabling the company to end the Sale a week earlier than last year, on January 13. He said that many of Selfridges’ competitors will be on Sale until the end of the month.
The company plans to continue the modernisation of the Oxford Street flagship this year with major work on the women’s floor, the men’s floor and the beauty hall. He also reiterated Selfridges’s commitment to its three regional stores, which he said also had a strong Christmas.
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