N Brown sees positive momentum pick up in first quarter

2nd Jul 2013 08:15

Underlying revenue growth at FTSE 250 home-shopping business N Brown accelerated strongly in the first quarter of its financial year with all of its core products contributing.In a prepared statement for Tuesday's annual general meeting (AGM), Chairman Andrew Higginson said that the positive trends announced at the time of the full-year results in May have "improved further in the last 10 weeks".The company, whose brands typically target people aged 30 and above, had said that group revenues in the first seven weeks of the year to April 20th were up 6.3% with like-for-like sales 6.1% higher. This growth had sped up to 8.0% and 7.8%, respectively, in the 17 weeks to June 29th, helped by growth from all major brands, product groups and channels, including online, stores and international.N Brown's brands include Simply Be, Jacamo and Figleaves."Ladieswear revenue has recovered as the weather has improved, and we continue to see strong growth from menswear and footwear. Home and gift's sales momentum is continuing and it remains our fastest growing product category," Higginson said.Spend level of customers has been maintained at last year's increased rate helped by customer recruitment. N Brown is currently in the process of cutting down the number of brochures it sends out and is investing more in the online business, which now accounts for over half of total home-shopping revenue.Higginson concluded: "We have made a good start to the year and we will endeavour to keep up the momentum whilst recognising that our customers continue to face pressure on their disposable income. The board remains confident of a positive outcome for the year."The stock was up 3.97% at 484.5p by 08:46 on Tuesday.