Retail group Frasers has reported a growth in half year sales and profit, driven by acquisitions and continued growth in online.
According to its interim results for the 26 weeks to 23 October 2022, total group sales rose 12.7% to £2.6bn from £2.3bn. Reported pre-tax profit resulted at £284.6m, up 53% from £186m.
Within its Premium Lifestyle division, which includes House of Fraser, Sofa.com and FLANNELS, sales rose 24.7% to £533.5m from £427.9m against the same period last year.
Gross profit increased from £204.3m to £223.2m, while adjusted pre-tax profit resulted at £11.3m, significantly improving from a loss of £9.7m.
Frasers Group said that the growth was largely due to new Flannels stores and continued growth in online, with the House of Fraser business showing a year on year trading improvement.
Bottom line improvement was largely due to a reduction in property and other related impairments, growth in the Flannels business and improvements in House of Fraser performance, mitigated by impairments to intangible assets within recent acquisitions.
Since these latest figures, Frasers Group has further strengthened this division with the acquisition of online homeware retailer Amara.com, stating that this will build on its ambitions to create a credible homeware destination for Flannels.
