Peacocks cautious on strong sales gain
Like-for-likes up 10.8 per cent across first quarter
July 16 2003
Value clothing retailer Peacock has sounded a cautious note of the competitive UK market despite a strong sales gain across the first quarter.
In the three months to June 29, overall group like-for-like sales rose by 10.8 per cent over the same period last year, with like-for-like gross profit up 13.6 per cent.
Chairman John Lovering told the retailer’s annual meeting that “it is early in the financial year and the comparative period was one of the weakest last year. Whilst the group performance looks very encouraging, the overall trading environment remains highly competitive.”
The core Peacocks chain saw a like-for-like sales increase of 8.1 per cent, with like-for-like gross profit up 9.1 per cent. A further 29 stores were converted to the new Peacocks format, with 112 stores now trading in the new format from a total chain of 375 stores.
The Bonmarche division, targeting older womenswear customers, saw like-for-like sales growth of 15.5 per cent with like-for-like gross profit up 21.1 per cent. Bonmarche now operates 280 stores, having opened in 11 new locations in the first quarter.
Lovering said: “The group has continued to make excellent progress. This is being driven by our success in exploiting the strong underlying growth of our value markets through the rollout of the new format stores and the more fashionable lines at Peacocks, and the continuing success of Bonmarche in exploiting its distinct market position.”
