Long way to go for Instore
INSTORE, the budget retail group, has described recent trading as “encouraging” but refused to claim the landscape was “indicative of a turnaround”.
The Huddersfield-based group has begun a strategy of dropping the Instore brand and going back to its Poundstretcher name – a title the group feels will be welcome to consumers during the recession.
In an interim management statement, Instore said the trading environment since the beginning of its current financial year on March 1 had been “challenging, due to both the underlying economic climate and an ever more competitive discount sector”.
Instore said today: “While recent trading has to some extent been encouraging, with gardening and outdoor living ranges performing well as the UK has enjoyed good seasonal weather in the late spring and early summer months, margins have come under pressure as the company strives to maintain its competitive edge.
“It is expected that such pressure on margins will continue over the coming months.
“In addition, although welcoming this recent positive sales trend, the board does not regard this as indicative of a turnaround in the company’s overall situation and believes that it will be some time before the effectiveness of the actions taken to address fundamental issues within the business can be judged with reasonable certainty.”
Instore was acquired last year by cash and carry entrepreneur Aziz Tayub.
Instore saw losses before tax and exceptional items of £5.8m in the year to February 28 compared to £2.2m a year earlier, while sales were £295.8m, down 0.3%.
The group has shut 13 of the 33 former Ponden Mill stores it acquired in December 2007 but still has 308 stores in the UK.
