It has been reported that Bonmarche, the women’s fashion retailer, has seen a slight increase of 0.5% in its like-for-like sales in its fourth quarter, compared to a decrease of 3.3% the previous year. The figures show that the total sales increased 5.2% in the 13 weeks to 26th March.

Chief executive of Bonmarche, Beth Butterwick, said: “Post-Christmas trading conditions have continued to be challenging with the exception of January when the company saw a higher than average demand for autumn/winter sale stock.”

She added: “Although helpful in clearing these ranges, the continued colder weather has been unhelpful in kick-starting real demand for spring products.”

The company also revealed the appointment of Mark McClennon as an independent non-executive director to start immediately.

Chairman of Bonmarche, John Coleman, said: "I am delighted with Mark's appointment. His experience gained over more than twenty years within Unilever will bring to the Board skills and knowledge which will be especially valuable given the developing business change agenda within Bonmarché's strategy."

Sergei Spiridonov has also been appointed as a non-independent non-executive director and is the nominee for Bonmarche’s majority shareholder, BM Holdings.

Mr Coleman added: "I would like to welcome Sergei to the board. His knowledge and background, particularly in the consumer space, will be valuable going forward and we look forward to continuing our good relationship with our majority shareholder.”