It was probably not how Michael Sharp, Debenhams’ chief executive, wanted to bow out, with a reverse in like-for-like sales and a reduction in expected margins triggering a 6 per cent fall in the share price, but there is not a lot in the retailer’s trading update to alarm investors.
Mr Sharp is continuing to implement the fourfold strategy in place over the past year or so. Debenhams is improving its online sales, though that rate of growth is inevitably slowing as it laps some difficult competitors.
There is less reliance on discounting — actually, the difficult trading in the clothes market meant there was exactly the same number of days of sales as a year before, whereas in a more benign market one might