THE boss of Beales has said the business is seeing positive results from the “blood, sweat and tears” that people in the business have been through.

An interim trading update by the Bournemouth-based department store company showed group sales down 0.6 per cent year-on-year for the 19 weeks to September 13.

Sales were 3.5 per cent down for the 45 weeks to the same date.

The company said the sales decreases included the impact of the decision to close loss-making stores when the leases expired and the exit from one store due to redevelopment by the landlord.

It also said sales figures had been pulled down by the end of the ‘mega’ promotions which were a feature at its stores in the previous year. It said these had generated extra sales at little or no margin.

Its exit from TV and audio sales and a slow start to the current financial year on the back of lower disposable incomes were also factors, the statement said.

Like-for-like sales including concessions and VAT were 1.7 per cent higher for the 19 weeks to September 13 and 1.1 per cent lower for the 45 weeks to that date, compared with the same periods last year.

CEO Michael Hitchcock said: “I truly believe that the high street in the UK can survive and thrive with a local, trusted and quality-driven offer, which emanates theatre and personality.

“The early signs of the blood, sweat and tears that the people in our business have given up are starting to positively show through.”

In May, the company reported that losses on ordinary activities before tax had been reduced 75 per cent to £200,000 in the first half of its financial year.

Beales’s 30 department stores include one in Poole’s Dolphin Centre and its flagship Bournemouth store, whose history dates back to 1881.