Liberty cuts 100 jobs as sales figures fall

LIBERTY, the troubled London department store group, is cutting nearly 100 jobs in an attempt to reduce costs and improve financial performance.

Philip Bowman, the company's new chairman, also warned that it could be five years before shareholders achieve a reasonable return on their investment.

The gloomy prognosis was delivered to shareholders at a downbeat annual meeting in London yesterday. Mr Bowman also gave an update on current trading showing that sales had fallen by 1 per cent in the six months to August.

The company has stocks equivalent to 23 weeks of sales. The effect of mark-downs on these ranges will affect the group's first-half results, the chairman said.