19th Mar 2019 09:36
LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in Bonmarche Holdings PLC on Tuesday dropped as the retailer issued a new profit warning due to weaker-than-expected March sales.
Bonmarche shares were trading down 23% at 28.50 pence each early Tuesday.
The fashion retailer now expects to post an annual pretax loss of between GBP5.0 million and GBP6.0 million, as weaker sales in March offset sales gains made in the previous months.
Back in December, Bonmarche already lowered its profit guidance, stating that it expected between breakeven and a GBP4.0 million loss at the pretax level. At the end of November, the firm had guided for its adjusted annual pretax profit to be GBP5.5 million.
For the year to March 2018, the company posted adjusted pretax profit of GBP8.0 million.
"Sales since Christmas had been slightly above the level required to meet the revised forecast range, and despite the additional discounting, our expectation was that the underlying pretax profit for the year would be within the lower end of the breakeven to GBP4.0 million loss range of underlying profit outcomes set out in December's announcement," Bonmarche said.
"However, trading since the beginning of March has been significantly weaker, reversing sales gains made in the previous months. In light of this, we now believe there is a likelihood of sales levels for the remainder of the month continuing to follow this trend, which would make the underlying pretax loss for the year greater than GBP4.0 million."
Despite the setback in the year, Bonmarche kept its financial 2020 expectations unchanged, due to an early positive reaction to its Spring product range.
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