Debenhams, Britain's second biggest department store chain, today posted a 21% slump in annual profit, as expected.
The company said this was mainly due to a disastrous first half when warm autumn and winter weather dented sales in the run-up to last Christmas.
The company, which has 240 stores in 28 countries - including Ireland - today reported underlying pretax profit of £110.3m in the 12 months to the end of August.
This was in line with analysts' average forecast of £110m, according to Reuters data.
Debenhams said its performance had improved in the second half of the year but it remained cautious about the outlook as consumers were still not seeing a rise in their disposable incomes.
"Whilst this has been a challenging year for Debenhams, the brand is strong and our improved second half performance gives us confidence that we are ready for the key Christmas period and can deliver sustainable growth over the longer term," chief executive Michael Sharp said in a statement.
