French Connection Group PLC - London-based fashion retailer - Cuts pretax loss for the six months that ended July 31 to GBP900,000 from GBP13.2 million a year before, as sales staged a partial rebound from the pandemic and costs were removed. News of the improvement comes after last week's announcement that the retail chain had agreed to a GBP29 million takeover, with Founder & Chair Stephen Marks to step down once the deal concludes.
Revenue rises 60% to GBP40.2 million from GBP23.9 million a year before but remains down 21% from GBP51.0 million in 2019. This is partly due to government-imposed store closures, though the lower sales generated from physical stores was partially offset by increased contributions from the Wholesale and E-commerce divisions.
"I am pleased that the improvement in business we saw in the early part of the period has continued throughout the first half of the financial year. Wholesale in both the UK and the US has performed well, with a good outcome to the summer season." comments Chair & Chief Executive Stephen Marks.
Last Monday, French Connection backed a takeover bid by a consortium, seven months after the fashion brand put itself up for sale. The consortium includes KJR Brothers Ltd and Amarjit Singh Grewal, as well as second-largest French Connection shareholder Apinder Singh Ghura.
French Connection will not pay an interim dividend.
Current stock price: 29.02p
Year-to-date change: up sharply from 10.18p at end of 2020
By Will Paige; willpaige@alliancenews.com
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