The Peacock Group plc is pleased to issue the following second quarter trading update covering the 13 week period from 3 July 2005 to 1 October 2005 in line with its reporting practice.
Overall, the Group is performing well, given the tough retail climate, driven by a relatively good performance from Peacocks and The Fragrance Shop. At bonmarche, trading has also improved albeit helped by clearance activity.
Peacocks continues to trade strongly, driven by its higher fashion focus and store refurbishment programme. Womenswear continues to perform particularly well. Peacocks refitted 45 stores during the quarter with 97 percent of stores now completed. With the opening of 5 stores and the closure of 3 stores the Division now trades from 436 stores across the country.
Bonmarche showed an improved performance, albeit against weak prior year comparatives, and sales did benefit from major clearance activity which resulted in lower margins year on year. It remains too early to gauge whether the recovery initiatives put in place will lead to sustained improvements in performance. At the period end, the Division traded from 354 stores after 6 openings and 1 closure during the quarter.
They continued with the accelerated roll out of the TFS format to 8 more locations over the quarter, bringing the Division's total number of stores to 68. They are also realising margin benefits from the increased scale of the business.
They will be reporting their forthcoming Interim Results under IFRS, which they do not expect will have a material impact on reported profit due to the permanent saving of goodwill amortisation being largely offset by other adverse structural changes, mainly the amortisation of leasehold incentives. Reconciliation between IFRS and UK GAAP will be provided with the Interim Results.
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