Poundstretcher group Brown & Jackson today said it had turned the corner after a radical overhaul resulted in 5% like-for-like sales growth.
The figure for the first eight weeks of the financial year comes after B&J spent eight months revamping its ranges, shops and service.
As part of the changes, the Leeds-based group lured retail veteran and former Matalan boss Angus Monro to become its chief executive in September.
Loss-making subsidiaries What Everyone Wants, Your More and the Famous Brunswick Warehouse were sold along with 73 freehold properties.
Monro’s arrival sparked a comprehensive review of the Poundstretcher business, best known for its discount clothing and general retail offering.
Chairman Christo Wiese said: “Since the restructuring of the business Poundstretcher has made considerable progress.
“The restructuring rid Brown & Jackson of brands that were greatly impeding performance.
“The group is left without any debts and in a strong cash position thereby creating an excellent platform for future growth.”
Today B&J said it was seeing signs of longer-term improvement as operating profits before one-off costs for the eight months to 22 February were £6.8m with like-for-like sales up 2.8% from continued operations.
At the bottom line, pre-tax losses were £23.1m for the 33-week period, compared with losses of £46.9m for the 53 weeks last year.
Richard Ratner, head of research at stockbroker Seymour Pierce, said: “The change in the company’s fortunes – and indeed the shape of the company – is enormous.”
B&J will soon be moving to a new purpose-built warehouse and head office in Huddersfield.
A new logo and branding are being worked up with a 12-store trial set to start this autumn. There was no dividend for shareholders.
The shares were down 1.5p at 75.5p.
References: EGi News 24/04/03
