Beale unveils overhaul after sales fall

The group, which has 32 department stores across the UK, said it was forced to cut back the number of ‘mega day’ discount events in the 19 weeks to March 10 as trade dwindled. Bournemouth-based Beale said like-for-like sales including concessions and VAT were down 8.4 per cent in the period but its performance was still in line with expectations.

The company said that including the 19 department stores acquired last May from Anglia Regional Co-operative Society, total sales were ahead 45.9 per cent.

Beale, which opened its first store in Bournemouth in 1881, said the business had been hit by “difficult economic conditions” and will be implementing a restructuring of its operations.

The department stores, which operate under the brands Beales, Broadbents & Boothroyds, Whita-kers, Denners and Robbs, join a list of retailers suffering as high inflation, low wage growth and battered confidence hits consumers.