Bhs profits drop 40% as high street gloom deepens

Profits at British Home Stores (Bhs), the department store group owner by retail billionaire Sir Philip Green, fell 40 per cent last year in a further sign that the economic downturn is keeping shoppers away from the high street. Operating profits for the year to March 29 were down 39.6 per cent to £30.2 million, compared with £50 million last year, and a fraction of the record £112 million made in 2004. But Sir Philip, who also owns the Topshop-to-Burton Arcadia group, said the current financial crisis was "not a disaster" for retailers, insisting the Bhs figures represented a "solid performance in an exceptionally challenging market". Like-for-like sales for the year fell 2.9 per cent. The group also reported that sales over the past six weeks were down 4 per cent. But Sir Philip said the weather as well as the economic... [read full story]