Finished goods inventories include £18.0m (2019: £20.0m) of provisions to carry inventories at lower of cost and net realisable value where such value is lower than cost. The Group did not reverse any unutilised provisions during the period.

During the period £6.9m was recognised as an expense in respect of the write-down of inventories (2019: £8.4m) to net realisable value, of which £3.8m related to Cycle Republic and is included in non-underlying items (note 5). No inventories are held as security for external borrowings.

Goods bought for resale recognised as a cost of sale amounted to £563.8m (2019: £554.2m).

Following a review of inventory costing during the period, the Group concluded that the historic inclusion of certain distribution centre costs within the cost of inventories and the treatment of such distribution centre costs as an operating expense rather than a cost of sale was not in line with the Group's accounting policy.

In the consolidated statement of financial position, inventories at 29 March 2019 and 30 March 2018 are stated after adjusting for this amount, and consequently retained earnings and net assets have been reduced by £11.7m. In correcting this misapplication, there is no impact on reported gross profit, operating expenses or other items in the consolidated income statement or in the consolidated statement of cash flows for the current or comparative periods.

Inventories at 3 April 2020 include a right to recover returned goods amounting to £1.9m (2019: £1.8m). These are measured by reference to the former carrying amount of the sold inventories.