Finished goods inventories include £20.0m (2018: £21.5m) of provisions to carry inventories at fair value less costs to sell where such value is lower than cost. The Group did not reverse any unutilised provisions during the period.

During the period £8.4m was recognised as an expense in respect of the write-down of inventories (2018: £9.0m) to net realisable value. No inventories are held as security for external borrowings.

Goods bought for resale recognised as a cost of sale amounted to £554.2m (2018: £555.9m).

Following the adoption of IFRS 15, inventories at 29 March 2019 include a right to recover returned goods amounting to £1.8m. These are measured by reference to the former carrying amount of the sold inventories.