Stockmann said February sales, excluding the recently-divested Zara franchise business in Russia, reached 132.5 mln eur, up 7.0 pct from February last year.

Sales at the Stockmann department store division, which comprises Stockmann department stores and fashion businesses (excluding Seppala), rose 10.6 pct to 73.5 mln eur, boosted by new trading space and strong like-for-like growth abroad.

The division figure includes sales from clothing stores in Russia operated under licence from Denmark's Bestseller, but strips out sales from the Zara fashion chain which has recently been sold to its Spanish parent Grupo Inditex.

When the disposal of Zara is completed this Spring, the business will be deconsolidated from Stockmann's accounts with retroactive effect to the start of this year.

Stockmann's car division, which was deconsolidated from March 1, registered a 23.2 uplift in sales for February to 33.9 mln eur.

Seppaelae, Stockmann's wholly-owned clothing chain, saw sales fall 4.1 pct to 8.7 mln eur, impacted by strong comparatives in Finland.

Meanwhile, Hobby Hall, the mail order specialist, recorded a 20.9 pct decline in sales to 16.4 mln eur.
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