Profits drop at beleaguered Bonmarché

Profits have dropped at women’s high street retailer Bonmarché as plans to modernise fall flat.

Revenue grew 1.1% to £190m at the Wakefield-based company, with online sales up 2.2% for the 53 weeks ended 1 April 2017.

Store like-for-like sales however were down 4.3% and pre-tax profits dipped nearly 40% to £5.8m, with Bonmarché blaming unseasonal weather, inflation and the Brexit referendum for its poor performance.

Despite this, chairman John Coleman was optimistic about the future. He said that although they expected conditions to remain challenging, the company was well positioned for further growth.

Helen Connolly, chief executive of Bonmarché, commented: “Since joining the business almost a year ago, I have been struck by the passion and drive of colleagues throughout the business and I am confident that with our current focus on modernising and improving the offering for our customers, we remain well placed to serve the 50 plus women’s value clothing market.

“A combination of internal and external factors over the past year prevented us from improving at the rate we had aimed for. However, we believe that the business is now well positioned, with a compelling proposition and robust plan.

“As outlined previously, it is clear that the direction of travel is broadly right, albeit the effectiveness of execution needs to improve. Our update today provides further detail on the areas where we see the greatest opportunities and how we are already beginning to address these.

“I would like to thank all my colleagues for their continued dedication to Bonmarché, and I look forward to updating on our progress over the coming year as we drive forward our strategy to successfully grow profitable sales by gaining market share”.

The board recommend a final dividend 4.64p per share, bringing the total for year to 7.14p, the same as in 2016.