Trevor Coates, the new chief executive of Instore, said that a £16 million investment in rebranding by his predecessor, Angus Monro, had made “no significant difference” to the cut-price retailer.
Mr Coates said the attempt by Mr Monro, ousted as head of Matalan in March, to take Poundstretcher slightly more upmarket by rebranding as Instore had not worked. Research showed that the stores were attracting the same customers buying the same kind of things.
Announcing plans to proceed with half the chain converted to Instore and half under the old Poundstretcher brand, Mr Coates said that he wanted to focus on improving retailing basics such as availability, stockholding and range. “We are trying to restore the business to some sort of control,” he said.
Shares in Instore rose 5p, or 18 per cent, to 32½yesterday.as it said underlying sales rose 7.3 per cent in the 24 weeks to August 12.