Large House of Fraser stores to be kept ‘under review’ 

Frasers could reportedly close larger House of Fraser stores in the future as the group continues to reassess its department store portfolio, The Guardian has reported. 

The group has already seen a net decrease of eight House of Fraser stores in the past year, as revealed in its full-year results that were published yesterday (27 July). 

At the end of FY23, 31 stores remained trading, down from the 59 that operated when the business was bought out of administration in 2018. 

CEO Michael Murray told The Guardian that the group’s department store portfolio was “continually under review”, and that solutions needed to be found for excess space as some of these outlets were “still too big”, adding that “the department store globally is broken”.

While House of Frasers stores have been around 150,000 sq ft in the past, the group said it now wants stores of around 50,000 sq ft or smaller.

Nonetheless, its latest results did reveal that a “notable” new House of Fraser store was opened in Derby, taking a former Debenhams unit. The store features a reduced format combined with separate floors housing Sports Direct. In addition, new Frasers stores due to open in FY24 include a new format at Norwich and a new location in Blackpool. 

It comes as Frasers posted profit before tax of £660.7m for the year ended 30 April 2023, nearly double the £335.6m profit it posted last year.

The company stated that this profit increase was mainly driven by a profit growth from its sports retail business from £2.64bn in 2022 to £3.08bn in 2023, an increase of 16.7%.

Alongside this, the company’s adjusted profit before tax saw an increase of 40.7% from £339.8m to £478.1m once £97.2m of exceptional items were factored in amongst other things.

Overall, the group saw its revenue jump 15.8% to £5.56bn compared with £4.80bn last year.

Frasers has been contacted for further comment.