Department store group Bentalls today said the disposal of its under-performing Bristol outlet had left its mark on figures for the year.
The sale to rival House of Fraser in September created a one-off loss of £9.6m after the property was sold off below its asset value. That pushed Kingston-based Bentalls’ overall pre-tax loss to £8.3m for the year to January 27, compared to £1.4m pa earlier.
However, Bentalls was able to eliminate all its borrowings as a result of offloading the Bristol business. The group sold the store for £16.3m after it failed to meet trading expectations, reporting an operating loss of £971,000 last year.
That compared with a £2.9m operating profit on sales of £108.2m achieved across Bentalls’ six remaining outlets at Kingston, Worthing, Bracknell, Tonbridge, Ealing and Lakeside, Essex.
Sales on a like-for-like basis improved by 4% against the same period a year earlier. Edward Bentall, chairman, said trading in the first eight weeks of the group’s new financial year remained healthy, with comparable business up 9%.
He added: “Sales of fashion goods have been particularly strong, supporting the board’s view that the company is set on a path of sustainable improvement.”
Business at Bentalls’ flagship Kingston store was ahead 3% last year, although the performance was hit by recent rail disruption. The lowest sale growth of 2.3% came at Tonbridge, where customers were affected by the flooding last autumn.
Trading at Worthing was 7.7% stronger last year. Shareholders will receive a total dividend of 4.05p, against 3.95p a year earlier.
EGi News 30/03/01
