Jenners owner Fraser sees 7 per cent sales rise

Published on Wednesday 27 September 2006 11:25

JENNERS owner House of Fraser has seen sales rise 7.6 per cent on last year, following the group's take-over of the Princes Street store and other recent acquisition Beatties.

However, like-for-like sales were down by 2.5 per cent in the six months to July 29, and the group booked a pre-tax loss of 11.6 million, widening from a loss of 4.4m the year.

But House of Fraser, which is in the process of being sold to acquisition vehicle Highland, which includes Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter and Icelandic retail group Baugur for 351m, said it was optimistic about the future. It added that like-for-like sales in the first eight weeks of the second half were up 3.3 per cent, albeit against softer comparisons.

In a statement, the group said that the integration of both Jenners, which has three stores in addition to its flagship Princes Street shop and Beatties, which has 11 stores, mainly in the Midlands, was ahead of schedule.

It added that it expected to start benefiting from the new additions from this financial year onwards.

John Coleman, chief executive of House of Fraser, said: "Despite a tough period of trading we have continued to achieve a great deal across the business - bringing in new and exciting brands and ranges across all our stores, relaunching our private label Linea, integrating Jenners and Beatties and continuing our programme of low cost refurbishments.

"This has been a busy period for the company, culminating in the recent offer from Highland."