Retail sales dropped 10% for 11-store home chain before Cole's buy

17th December 2009 | retail | Leekes, the new owner of Midlands independent Cole of Bilston, registered a double digit fall in retail sales in the year to the end of March, but a £10.53m disposal of development land helped the firm achieve a £0.98m operating profit for the year.

The land sale's contribution to operating profits was £1.05m, while its retail division delivered a £67k operating loss, which the company ascribed to the general market downturn and exceptional items of nearly £0.33m, which included redundancy costs and the legal bill for an unsuccessful litigation claim.

Retail sales for the year were £48.31m. Leekes last month bought Cole of Bilston, a circa £10m three store retailer, which brings the total number of Leekes stores to 11.

Parent firm JH Leeke & Sons also owns other businesses including a hotel, leisure and golf resort.

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