Selfridges has reported a 10% drop in operating profit to £88mn for the year ending 2 February 2020, just prior to the pandemic took a grip on the UK’s retail industry. Sales during the period increased 7% to £1.97bn, Selfridges revealed in an update on Thursday. It came amid “a challenging retail backdrop and a significant investment across the business”. That included the launch of a 22,000ft2toy destination in London, an expanded luxury Accessories Hall in Manchester, and investment across all customer digital channels, including digital stock systems. As for last Christmas trading, the company said it saw a strong digital performance though in-store was challenging. Like retailers across the country, Selfridges was forced to close its stores for months at a time in 2020. While the company hasn’t yet released figures for the 2020 fiscal year, managing director Anne Pitcher described it as an “exceptionally difficult” period, but said the company entered it “in a strong position” thanks to its 2019 financial performance.