Miss Selfridge and Wallis hit by losses

The Irish stores of British brands Miss Selfridge and Wallis last year recorded losses after incurring onerous lease provisions.

Accounts just filed by the Tina Green-owned companies show that Wallis Retail (Ireland) Ltd (WRIL) recorded a £3.5m (€4.3m) loss last year after the firm recorded a pre-tax profit of £2m in 2010.

Ms Green is married to retail tycoon Philip Green and they operate the Arcadia Group that counts Top Shop among its brands.

The figures show that WRIL recorded the loss after incurring a £3.89m onerous lease provision for its loss-making stores after assessing if their future operating cash flows are projected to meet their annual and other property cost obligations.

The figures show that before the exceptional cost, the firm made an operating profit of £387,000 in the 12 months to the end of Aug 27 last.

This followed revenues at WRIL last year declining by 10% or £1.6m from £16.3m to £14.7m.

The filings show that the numbers employed by WRIL last year increased from 209 to 219 with staff costs increasing from £3m to £3.3m.

According to the directors’ report “while the retailing environment in Ireland is highly competitive, the board is optimistic that the ongoing investment in stores and product will contribute to the... objective of growing both total and underlying sales”.

The loss last year reduced WRIL’s accumulated profits to £1.3m.

Separate filings by Miss Selfridge Retail (Ireland) Ltd show that it went into the red last year to record a loss of £2.4m after recording pre-tax losses of £236,000 in fiscal 2010.

The returns show that the firm’s revenues also took a 17% dip going from £5.2m to £4.3m.

The chief factor behind the loss was the company incurring exceptional costs totalling £2m that included a £1.8m provision against onerous leases on loss-making stores and an impairment charge of £171,000.