Online sales power on at N Brown as profits rise

ONLINE sales at home shopping group N Brown passed the 50% level for the first time as the company’s annual results saw further growth, despite the consumer spending squeeze.

The Manchester company, which specialises in plus-size clothing for women and increasingly men, owns brands such as JD Williams, Simply Be, High & Mighty and figleaves, said profits in the 53 weeks to March 3 were up 2.5% to £96.9m.

Total revenue was up 4.8% to £753.2m, while online sales were 16% ahead at £377m. In line with its strong performance the group announced a 5% hike in its full-year dividend to 13.03p per share.

Chief executive Alan White said the trading outlook was more encouraging for the remainder of the year – barring any “wildcat” moves in fuel and energy prices.

“Pensions have just risen 5.2% and we feel pay settlements are going to be closer to inflation so people should start to feel less squeezed than they have been.

“We should see a bit more growth as the year progresses, and from a self-help point of view, we have bought much tighter this year than last, so we won’t have to do as much discounting in the autumn as we had to in 2011 – I suspect this will be true of many other retailers.”
 
N Brown  said its figleaves business had made its first-ever profit and in its 13-year history, and it was seeing promising signs from its Simply Be store experiment.

A first store under the Jacamo brand – which is endorsed by cricketer turned media celebrity Andrew Flintoff – was opened in Gateshead at the weekend.

Mr White said: “We are in test mode still – and we’ll have six or seven Simply Be stores by the end of the year, while we’ll add  Jacamo to the mezzanine floor at Liverpool One.

“I’d say we are still in test mode with the stores and we’ll take a look at what to do next year.”

Commenting on reaching the 50% online sales threshold, Mr White said: “It is a milestone for the business, and I expect the growth to continue, particularly as our older customers become more web-savvy.

“We’re seeing more sales and traffic from mobile devices, such as iPhones and iPads, and we have invested to make sure our sites are mobile-friendly, particularly at the checkout page, which tends to be the fiddly part.”

He said Simply Be’s fledgling US business was performing well, and that albeit from a low base, sales had risen 500% to £4.8m.

Chairman Lord Alliance of Manchester said: “We are pleased to announce another robust set of results despite a difficult trading environment where our customers have seen their discretionary income become increasingly hard-pressed.

“We have continued to focus on our multi-channel strategy, investing in our online trading platform, whilst also expanding our international activities. Although we do not expect the market to materially improve, we believe consumer confidence will begin to pick up later this year and we are confident that our strategy will continue to deliver in 2012.”