The Beast swept in to deliver a sales setback to retailer Bonmarche

OVER 50S fashion retailer Bonmarche suffered a drop in sales in the first three months of the year, which analysts pinned on the Beast from the East snowfall.

The Wakefield-based budget fashion chain said like-for-like sales in stores fell 11.1 per cent in the 13 weeks to March 31 although online sales rose 31.2 per cent. This led to a 7.4 per cent like-forlike sales fall over the period.

Bonmarche said that despite “disappointing” store sales, pretax profit for the year will be in line with the board’s expectations. Analysts are forecasting profit to come in at £7.8m, a rise of 28 per cent on the £6.1m delivered in 2017.

Helen Connolly, chief executive of Bonmarche, said: “As anticipated, trading conditions in the final quarter of our financial year remained challenging and, against this backdrop, I am pleased that we have delivered an increase in the profit before tax compared to last year.

“Whilst we expect the market to remain difficult, our focus will be on continuing to improve our proposition to customers through a number of self-help initiatives.”

Mark Photiades, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, said Bonmarche performed well given the severe weather during the first quarter and the general gloom surrounding the sector.

“We understand that trade was steady in January and February before the adverse weather impacted trade in March,” he said.

“We are particularly pleased to see continued strong online growth, especially in light of the strong comparatives in the quarter. The target demographic remains set to grow in the years ahead and the new chief executive is making good progress on her turnaround strategy.”