Record year for Selfridges
LUXURY department store group Selfridges has reported record profits for year ending January 2015.
The group, which has stores at the Trafford Centre and at Exchange Square in Manchester as well as its flagship shop on London’s Oxford Street and in Birmingham, said operating profits rose 3.4% to £155m, with gross sales up 4.3% to £1.3bn. All four stores and its online business saw year-on-year growth.
Its results were helped by a strong performance from the online business, which delivers within the UK and to more than 130 other countries, trading in eight currencies.
During the year the company began a £300m refurbishment of its Oxford Street store, which is expected to take three years to complete. The group also opened a new beauty hall in Birmingham and added more luxury designers, including Christian Louboutin, to its Exchange Square store in Manchester.
Selfridges’ managing director, Anne Pitcher, added: “We are delighted to have delivered record results in 2014/15, a year when we focused our attention on providing an extraordinary shopping experience for our customers, however they chose to shop with us.
“We are confident that our strategy in the coming year will firmly reinforce Selfridges’ position at the forefront of fashion and provide great opportunities for the many incredible brands that we partner with.”
Selfridges is owned by British-Canadian businessman Galen Weston.
Last month the company said it had struck a deal with fashion brand H&M for it to open an exclusive homewares concession at its Trafford Centre store.
