11th Oct 2016 06:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - N Brown Group PLC on Tuesday reported a fall in profit in the first half of its financial year due to exceptional costs it booked, but revenue rose as it increased online penetration and, ultimately, online sales.
The online and catalogue clothing retailer said pretax profit in the 26 weeks ended August 27 fell slightly to GBP21.1 million from GBP23.8 million the year before, although revenue rose to GBP429.4 million from GBP425.3 million.
Profit was hit by an exceptional cost of GBP9 million, which N Brown said was related to financial services customer redress, but revenue was boosted by a good performance in each of its 'Power Brands' and increased online penetration as N Brown works to transition the business towards a predominately digitally-focused brand.
Online penetration rose by five percentage points to 68%, and online penetration of new customers was up seven percentage points to 76%, helping online revenue to rise by 7.5% and online sales of the Power Brands to grow by 10%.
N Brown's Power Brands comprise women's clothing lines JD Williams and Simply Be, and menswear brand Jacamo.
N Brown will pay an interim dividend of 5.98 pence, which is flat year-on-year.
"The Autumn Winter season has started in line with our plans. Our improving agility is enabling us to trade the business in a volatile environment. At this stage we are comfortable with current market expectations for the full year," Chief Executive Angela Spindler said in a statement.
N Brown will report its third-quarter trading statement on January 19.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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