McColl’s like-for-likes edge down in fourth quarter
The McColl’s convenience chain saw its like-for-like sales edge down 1.1% in its fourth quarter as trading was impacted by a decline in traditional categories and unfavourable weather.
In the 13 weeks to 26 November, total revenue was up 28.9%. Despite the fall in like-for-like sales across the quarter, McColl’s said that like-for-like sales in its recently acquired and converted stores were up 1.3% in the period.
The results meant that total revenue climbed by 19.1% across the full year. Like-for-like sales in the year were up 0.1%, with significant mix improvements as a result of growth in key grocery categories.
Jonathan Miller, McColl’s chief executive, said: “I am delighted to report another strong quarter of revenue growth. For the first time the business has achieved annual revenues of more than £1 billion, boosted by our transformational acquisition of 298 high quality convenience stores last year, demonstrating that this is now a business of real scale.”
The company completed 25 convenience store refreshes in the second half of the year bringing the total to 27. McColl’s is planning to extend the refresh programme to 100 more stores in the new financial year.
Miller added: “McColl’s is well positioned to continue to take advantage of the growing convenience market, with clear opportunities to enhance organic growth across our estate, as well as continued expansion through our acquisition programme.
“As we look ahead to next year, we will focus on delivering an enhanced customer offer in over 1,300 stores through the groundbreaking wholesale partnership we signed with Morrisons, which will see us launch hundreds of Safeway branded products, exclusively in McColl’s from January 2018.”
