Home shopping group N Brown is planning a major expansion of its online services, on the back of a 5.5 per cent rise in annual pre-tax profits, taking it to £98.2m for the year ending February 26.
The group, which owns Simply Be, Oxendales, Jacamo, Marisota and the recently acquired Figleaves and High & Mighty, reported ecommerce sales had risen by almost a fifth in its latest financial year. Revenue increased by 4.2 per cent to £718m, while like-for-like sales rose 1.5 per cent in the ten weeks ending May 7.
N Brown chairman Lord Alliance of Manchester said: “We are pleased to announce another robust group performance in what can only be described as difficult trading conditions, and we are also encouraged by the good start to the new financial year.
“There is no doubt the UK consumer will be facing a tough time, with rising costs and falling income, but we are confident our strategy to focus on our core business, whilst investing in new brands and pushing forward internationally, will continue to deliver in 2011,” he added.
The group said a major part of its growth strategy would focus on the international expansion of its Simply Be brand in the coming months and that the first few months’ trading in the US had been encouraging. It also said it expected to see improvements in the trading performances of Figleaves and High & Mighty as a result of an investment in systems, product development and store openings.
