N Brown sales soar on internet sales and younger customers
Retailer N Brown has posted strong sales and operating profits in its half year results for the 26 weeks till 31 August.
Total group revenue stood at £406.6m, an increase of eight per cent with an increase in like-for-like sales of 7.8 per cent. Operating profit grew to £48.4m, an increase of 5.9 per cent.
Chairman Andrew Higginson said:
I am very pleased to be reporting strong sales growth of 8% for the first half of the year. During the period, we have welcomed Angela Spindler as CEO and have completed an extremely successful handover from Alan White, to whom I would like to give my personal thanks. The business is in an excellent position to continue to deliver positive results, as evidenced by our strong start to the second half.
The company attributes a large part of its recent success to growth in young customers and internet sales, with e-commerce up 13 per cent and mobile accounting for 36 per cent of all web traffic. The continued investment in customer recruitment was also stated as a factor contributing to the improved performance, with an increase in customer orders of 4.3 per cent to more than four million with sales per customer increasing. The group has an optimistic outlook for the full year.
CEO Angela Spindler said:
I have spent my first three months looking at the business in detail and I am extremely excited by what I have seen. As these results demonstrate, the business is performing well, with significant opportunity for growth in the future based around our products, delivery channels and international development. Today, I am pleased to confirm the roll out of our Simply Be/Jacamo store portfolio in the UK and I am looking forward to working with the excellent management team to build a leading global retailer famous for making shopping for fashion easy and enjoyable, regardless of size.
