Ayrshire entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter has received a badly-needed boost from improved Christmas trading at his Office fashion footwear chain, which is on track to beat last year's record pre-tax profit of £4.3m, writes Tim Sharp.
The business reported a 5.4% increase in like-for-like sales over the six weeks ended January 4. The same period the year before was itself up 3.6% year-on-year. Total sales were up 17% at £21.65m.
The company saw rising demand from its website with sales of £1.7m representing a 127% increase on last year.
do_dp_ad();The figures are good news for Office, which faced a report in the weekend press that credit insurers are considering withdrawing cover from its suppliers following the collapse of Hunter's Kilmarnock-based USC fashion chain, much of which he subsequently repurchased from administration.
The report was dismissed by a spokesman for Hunter's investment vehicle West Coast Capital, who said: "We have not got any issues with any of them."
Office chief executive Brian McCluskey said: "We remain on target to beat last year's record level of profit."
As well as the woes at USC, Hunter has had to write off £35m from his exposure to housebuilder Crest Nicholson, and about £30m in property developer McCarthy & Stone.
However, House of Fraser, the owner of Edinburgh department store Jenners, in which Hunter has an 11% stake, reported increased profit over the Christmas trading period, albeit on like-for-like sales that were 1.5% down. Hunter also has a stake in BHS.
