McColl’s fortune has taken a turn for the worse again in the third quarter, after its half-year results offered a glimmer of hope for the retailer.
A trading update for the 13 weeks ended 25 August 2019 revealed like-for-like sales down 2.2% and total revenue down 3.6% for the quarter. By comparison, like-for-likes grew 1.0% in H1, while total revenue nudged up 0.1%.
As in previous updates, McColl’s said the lacklustre numbers reflected “the challenging retail trading environment and poorer weather across the summer”.
The company said it was making further progress on its 2019 strategic priorities, with an ongoing programme of range reviews, further improvement in on-shelf availability and continued investment in the estate with the opening of four new stores.
McColl’s boss Jonathan Miller commented: “As we outlined in our interim results, this has been a highly unseasonable summer for the retail sector and our sales performance reflects both this and the ongoing macro-economic uncertainty.
“The fundamentals of the convenience channel are strong, and our focus remains on good retail execution whilst maintaining strong capital discipline. We continue to make operational progress and we anticipate results in line with expectations for the full year.”
