11 April 2014

 

Bonmarché Holdings plc

("Bonmarché" or the "Company")

 

TRADING UPDATE

 

Bonmarché, one of the UK's largest women's value retailers, presents its trading update for the 13 and 52 week periods ended Saturday 29 March 2014.

 

We are pleased to report continued growth for the quarter. Headline LFL sales increased by 13.5% for the 13 weeks, bringing the figure for the year to 10.4%. Combining online sales growth with the LFL figure raises the quarter's figure to 16.3% and the year's to 13.1%. We summarise the figures in the table below.

 

	Store only LFL% change	Online only sales % change	LFL stores plus online % sales change	Total sales % change*
13 weeks ended 29 March 2014	13.5%	72.8%	16.3%	15.7%
52 weeks ended 29 March 2014	10.4%	84.2%	13.1%	11.8%

 

*The average number of stores open during the quarter/year ended 29 March 2014 (264/263) was lower than in the comparative periods in 2013. As a consequence, the combined LFL plus online sales growth is higher than the total sales growth.  At 29 March 2014, Bonmarché traded from 263 stores/concessions.

FY14 expectations

 

The board is pleased with the current year's performance, and anticipates that the outcome will be slightly ahead of its expectations. The Company's financial position is sound, and we enter the new financial year with a clean stock position.

 

Beth Butterwick, Chief Executive Officer of Bonmarché, said:

 

"I am delighted with our performance, particularly with this being our first year end as a listed company. The growth driven though product, stores and multi-channel initiatives, demonstrates our customers' positive reaction to our strategy.

We will continue to learn from our customers as we progress. I look forward to outlining further growth initiatives for the new financial year, when I present our preliminary results on 13 June"

 

- Ends -

 

 

 

For further information regarding Bonmarché, please call: 

 

Bonmarché Holdings plc Beth Butterwick, Chief Executive Stephen Alldridge, Finance Director	c/o FTI +44 (0)20 727 1109
FTI Consulting - PR adviser Jonathon Brill, Josephine Corbett	+44 (0)203 727 1109
Investec Bank plc - Nominated adviser and broker Garry Levin, David Flin, David Anderson, Duncan Williamson	+44 (0)20 7597 4000

 

 

Notes to Editors:

Bonmarché is one of the UK's largest women's value retailers, focused on selling stylish, affordable, premium quality clothing and accessories in a wide range of sizes for women over 50 years old, via its own store portfolio, website, mail order catalogues and through the Ideal World TV shopping channel. Established in 1982, Bonmarché has more than 30 years of experience in this growing market segment, operating across the UK.