Department store chain Fenwick narrowed losses considerably and recovered sales in its most recent financial year, newly published accounts show.
The Newcastle-based retailer, which runs nine stores in England, said it considered the results a strong performance given significantly reduced footfall as a result of store closures in 11 weeks during the year to January 28, 2022. Gross sales for the year were £240.2m, a 71% increase on the previous year but still well below the pre-pandemic levels of £355m in 2019.
In the same period, operating losses before exceptional items were £18.2m - a significant improvement on losses of £44.9m during the previous year in which the firm had suffered Covid-induced store closures for 21 weeks. Smaller pre-tax losses were helped by the sale of its Farnborough warehouse for a profit of £11.6m
