Fashion giant continues its digital march
N BROWN, the Manchester-based online, catalogue and high street plus-size fashion retailer, says trading is on track as it continues with its transformation into a digital business.
Group revenues increased 1% to £429.4m for the first half to August 27, with financial services putting in a strong performance, thanks to the increase in new credit customers over the previous financial year.
While adjusted pre-tax profit was ahead of expectations at £31.6m, it was still down almost 20% on the previous half year. Statutory pre-tax profit was down 11% to £21.1m.
There was a £9m exceptional cost related to financial services customer redress, compared to the £5m to £8m previously expected.
Highlights for the half year included the continued move online of its cutomer base, with 68% online penetration – up 5% on the previous half year – and online revenues up 7.5%. An impressive 70% of all traffic to the company’s website is now through from mobile devices.
The company’s three ‘power brands’ are JD Williams, which includes the Fifty Plus brand, Simply Be and Jacamo. All continued to outperform the wider business and saw increases in revenue, with JD Williams the star performer – revenues in that division were up 11% to £75.8m.
The company continues to drive growth overseas – with US revenues up by a quarter to £7.7m, although the division is operating at a £500,000 loss.
Angela Spindler, chief executive, said: “I am pleased with the progress we made during the half, as we continue to change to a digital business model, with an emphasis on agility and innovation.
“Spring Summer was challenging for the entire retail sector, and we were not immune to this, but we demonstrated our flexibility as we improved revenue performance through the season whilst controlling our costs well.”
The group said its Autumn Winter season had started in line with plans and it remained “comfortable” with current market expectations for the full year.
Spindler added: “In recent weeks we have reached two significant milestones: our full FCA authorisation and the launch of our new USA website.
“The learnings from the USA launch have led us to extend the remaining rollout timetable for our Fit 4 the Future systems project.
“We remain very positive about the capabilities the programme will bring. We also have new initiatives underway which will further improve our customer reach and add momentum to our transformation.”
The proposed interim dividend remains flat year on year at 5.67p
N Brown designs, sources and creates its product offer in Manchester, and employs over 2,600 people across the UK.
