Brighthouse looks to store openings as brands play on

The high street chain, which is planning to open a clutch of new stores in Yorkshire, reported a 6.7 per cent increase in like-for-like sales in the six months to September 30.

Chief executive Leo McKee said high street conditions remain difficult, but pre-Christmas trading is in line with management expectations.

Half year revenues rose 16.3 per cent to £127.2m and underlying earnings rose 21.8 per cent to £20.7m.

The group now has 243 stores following 15 new openings including Bridlington. It plans to open 650 stores around the UK.

Mr McKee said the group is on track to open a total of 25 stores during the 2011/12 financial year.

“We are actively looking at sites in Beeston, Harrogate, Morley, Pontefract and Selby,” said Mr McKee.

The group has been looking for a site in York for two years, but has been unable to find one.

Brighthouse said that pre-Christmas trading trends indicate that top sellers will be the Philips and Samsung Smart TVs, the Blackberry Curve 9360 Smartphone, the Acer Iconia Tablet, the Nintendo 3DS and the red kitchen range from Beko.

“Customers want high quality and a name, so brands are very important,” said Mr McKee.

“We only do high quality, upmarket brands. Our customers don’t have fancy cars and tend not to go on foreign holidays. They want an upmarket branded TV, they don’t want entry level products.”

Brighthouse sells household goods to customers on a weekly payment basis. Its customers are typically on low wages or have been denied access to mainstream credit.

This ‘alternative credit market’ is made up of an estimated 5.3 million households in the UK. The company has more than 215,000 customers throughout the country, who typically live within three miles of their local store.

Mr McKee said the group is “obsessed” about customer service.

”Customer service is very important. Our customers want to be treated with respect.”

Mr McKee believes the company’s most important marketing tool is word of mouth. Forty per cent of new customers are recommended by existing customers and 35 per cent of staff are former customers.

“In these challenging economic times, our half-year results reflect continuing strong demand for our products and services,” said Mr McKee.

“We will continue to focus on customer service and on extending our footprint across the UK.”

Brighthouse’s Yorkshire stores include Leeds, Barnsley, Doncaster, Hull, Rotherham, Sheffield, Bradford, Castleford, Keighley, Huddersfield and Halifax.