Profits at McColl’s plummet by 57pc

ProFITS at McColl’s more than halved as the collapse of wholesaler Palmer & harvey took its toll.

The convenience store owner posted a 57pc drop in profits to £7.9m in the year to November 25, while same-store sales declined 1.4pc compared with a year earlier.

The collapse of Palmer & harvey in November 2017 created ‘major disruption’ with the loss of supply to 700 of its stores, McColl’s said, forcing it to speed up a deal with Morrisons.

however, overall revenues were up 8.1pc to £1.2bn following the purchase of nearly 300 convenience stores. McColl’s shares jumped 11.5pc, or 5.8p, to 56.4p, as the firm posted a positive outlook for the year ahead.

Jonathan Miller, chief executive of McColl’s, said 2018 was a challenging year but the business ‘continued to make progress’.

russ Mould, investment director at aJ Bell, added: ‘McColl’s looks to be doing the right thing. Unfortunately, many of its rivals are also strengthening their proposition.’