House of Fraser shrugs off drag from warm weather

Net gains: House of Fraser's online sales were soaring but the department stores failed to keep up

Simon Neville9 December 2015

Department stores group House of Fraser managed to win over customers throughout autumn, despite the high street suffering from the warm weather which kept shoppers away.

Bosses revealed sales jumped 4.6% in the 13 weeks to the end of October, helped by a continued impressive performance for the online operation, which rose 27.7%.

Its department stores failed to keep up, growing just 0.8%, boosted by recently refurbished stores.

House of Fraser is now part of the Chinese conglomerate Sanpower, with the owners keen to expand the brand in the Far East.

The department stores group said the revamped websites grew by double digits, which means the portfolio in need of a facelift saw a fall in sales.

Analysts were impressed with the results, having predicted it would follow the fortunes of other retailers which complained about the recent warm weather.

However, independent analyst Nick Bubb pointed out: “Look at the 6% operating cost growth and you see why House of Fraser still doesn’t really make any money.

“You can’t ignore the “D” in a fixed asset heavy business like department stores and just focus on profits before tax and other costs. Depreciation is around £40 million a year.”