Department store chain Selfridges looks set to announce encouraging profits later this week, despite ongoing weakness in the wider UK retail market.
According to the Press Association, the firm - owned by Canadian tycoon Galen Weston - will reveal a 19 per cent climb in profits to a total of £127m. Sales at its London, Birmingham and Manchester stores, meanwhile, rose by 19 per cent to £950 million.
Selfridges recently entered into a new partnership with Primark, which will see the budget high street brand open concession stores at Selfridges outlets. The first of these, in Birmingham’s Bullring, opened last month and the second will open at the Trafford Centre on November 19.
“Within the last three weeks, we've launched Prada, Dior and Tom Ford in menswear and Cheap Monday in the Oxford Street store,” Selfridges managing director Anne Pitcher told the Sunday Times. “In Birmingham, we opened Primark and Ralph Lauren in menswear. This makes Selfridges welcome to everybody.”
Earlier in the year, Primark reported an interim profit of £151m and sales of £1.4bn, in spite of concerns about the rising cost of cotton.
