Much as expected by market watchers, Debenhams has revealed a loss of £491 million for year ending September 1st in its preliminary results, and confirms that the only way forward is to close around a third of its stores over the next five years. Like for like sales had fallen by 2.3 per cent year on year with disappointment in both beauty and fashion two of its most important segments.
The retailer joins a raft of others which are seemingly unable to continue to operate with the burden of large stables of stores which are not enjoying the levels of footfall and customer spend needed. The retailer is looking to cut £130 million of overheads from its business in order to be able to continue with its transformation strategy. Debenhams employs 26,000 staff and it is understood that around 4,000 jobs are at risk in the short term.
CEO Sergio Bucher said: “It has been a tough year for retail in 2018 and our performance reflects that.”
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