Shares in department store firm Selfridges climbed today as the group showed sales were continuing to rise despite fears of a consumer slowdown.
The group’s flagship Oxford Street store saw like-for-like sales, which strip out the effect of new space, climb 5% in the 25 weeks to 27 July.
It said it saw strong increases from menswear, womenswear and leisure ranges, helped by the launch of a new sports department in June.
In addition, sales at the group’s store in Manchester’s Trafford Centre rose 14% on a like-for-like basis, with “significant increases” in cosmetics, menswear and womenswear sales.
Overall, like-for-like sales rose 6% and the retailer’s shares surged 5% to 259.5p following the announcement.
Selfridges said the figures were consistent with those given at its annual general meeting in May, when the group said Oxford Street sales rose 5% while Trafford Centre was up 15% in the first 14 weeks of its new financial year – from the beginning of February.
A spokeswoman said today: “There are no signs of the consumer slowing, and we were not affected by the World Cup or the Golden Jubilee.
“Clearly if there is a significant slowing in consumer demand we are not pretending we would be immune, but there are a lot of initiatives here, such as the new sports department, which we hope will stand us in very good stead.”
Selfridges said it was on schedule to open its third store in Manchester’s Exchange Square in early September.
EGi News 31/07/02
