LONDON (Alliance News) - Moss Bros Group PLC on Friday said its overall trading performance in the 15 weeks from January 31 to May 14 has shown further improvement on the prior year.
The men's suit retailer and hire company, which is holding its annual general meeting on Friday, said its good performance in the 15 weeks was underpinned by strong retail sales while the hire business also continued to show positive growth.
Total sales increased by 3.3% in the period year-on-year, with like-for-likes up by 5%. Within this, like-for-like retail sales grew by 5.1% boosted by the new season's ranges, while like-for-like hire sales rose by 4.7%.
Like-for-like retail gross margin increased by 430 basis points, as a result of Moss Bros not running a mid-season sale during the period, helping like-for-like retail gross profit grow by 14%.
E-commerce sales, meanwhile, rose 9.7%, driven by developments to the retail and hire websites.
Moss Bros refitted a further three stores during the period and opened one new store, taking the total number of stores trading in the new format to 85 out of a total portfolio of 124 stores. The new format stores continue to trade ahead of the non-refitted stores and are on track to achieve their anticipated payback targets, Moss Bros said.
Moss Bros added it is confident it will meet market expectations for the full year.
"This has been another good period of progress for Moss Bros and we remain confident about our growth prospects," Chief Executive Brian Brick said in a statement.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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