Shares in Britain's second biggest department store group Debenhams slumped today after the retailer said poor summer weather left it with unsold stock that was being moved with deep price cuts.
That warning triggered a 13 per cent drop in the share price to 286p as the FTSE 250 index made gentle gains.
The retailer, which operates 97 department stores and relies on clothes for 50 per cent of its turnover, said in an earlier trading statement that like-for-like sales, stripping out new selling space, rose by a stronger-than-expected 6.2 per cent in the 20 weeks to July 20th, accelerating from a 5 per cent gain at the start of that period.
But the bad news was that the sales gain was achieved only at the expense of its profit margin after Debenhams was left with unsold summer clothing and garden furniture following unusually cold and wet weather.
The distractions of the World Cup and Golden Jubilee celebrations also kept shoppers away from the high street. Price cuts wiped a hefty 0.6 percentage points from gross margin over the 20 week period.