Allders Placed For Faster Recovery

The strategy to restore the performance of department store group Allders has "reached deeper and taken longer" than expected, hitting the full year performance of owner Minerva. The property company, which backed the takeover of Allders by Scarlett Retail last year, has reported a loss of GBP21.4m for the year to the end of June, despite a GBP1.2m profit from its core retail estate business.

Since the acquisition by Scarlett, fronted by former Debenhams chief executive Terry Green and former Asda finance director Phil Cox, Allders has invested in new clothing brands and ranges in a drive to take the chain's positioning more upmarket.

Minerva chairman Sir David Garrard said the measures implemented by the new management team "in order to effect the necessary change required to position Allders for growth, have reached deeper and taken longer than expected. This process has been dramatic and widespread, involving a complete overhaul of the merchandise offer, its margin structure and overall pricing policy."

Terry Green, Allders chief executive said: "The speed with which this transformation has been effected has had an impact on the short term profitability of the business. However, by addressing these requirements quickly, Allders is better placed for a faster recovery. We are confident that the benefits from having refocused product ranges and relaying stores will begin to come through from the autumn.''