Fenwick sees profits fall 31 percent

British department store Fenwick has suffered a loss of 31 percent in pre-tax profits to 30 million pounds in the year ending January 27.

According to Retail Week the company’s operating profit also dropped 29 percent to 17.8 million pounds in the same period, with gross sales remaining flat at 426 million pounds.

Fenwick stated the profits were hit by in-store markdowns to “address overcapacity” on some product lines and investments in its IT systems and digital infrastructure to improve the “exchange and analysis of data” and to “modernise internal processes”.

Ongoing investment is also going towards the launch of a full online proposition for the first time in 2019, which will offer home deliveries and click-and-collect.

Fenwick appointed a new chairman and ecommerce director early this year, but is still searching for a chief executive to helm the group.

Fenwick’s headquarters are based in Newcastle upon Tyne and the business is family-owned.

Photo credit: Fenwick, source Wikimedia Commons, License free, article source: Retail Gazette