Bonmarche sales drop but FY profit on track

Clothing retailer Bonmarche reported a drop in sales on Wednesday amid challenging conditions but said it expects pre-exceptional profit before tax for the year to 1 April 2017 to be slightly above the mid-point of the £5m to £7m range previously announced.

In the 53 weeks to 1 April, store only like-for-like sales fell 4.3%, while total sales were down 0.5%. Online, however, sales were up 2.2% for the year.

In the 14 weeks to 1 April, total sales rose by 2.7% against the corresponding period in 2016, with store LFL sales down 0.5% and online sales up 15.2%.

Chief executive Helen Connolly said: "As anticipated, trading conditions post-Christmas continued to be challenging, but this was accounted for when we issued the revised profit guidance last September, and therefore the final result for the year is in line with our expectations. Store like-for like sales were negative in January but stronger during February and March, and we also saw the resumption of growth in online sales following improvements made to our online offering.

"Whilst we expect the apparel market to remain challenging during the coming financial year, we are actively taking measures to improve our proposition to customers. We remain confident that Bonmarché remains unique in its ability to serve the needs of its target market and that the successful implementation of our plan will allow us to deliver growth in FY18, despite the challenging market."

At 0935 BST, the shares were up 5.3% to 78.95p.