LONDON (Alliance News) - Moss Bros Group PLC Tuesday reported growth in profit in the first half of its financial year as sales grew, its hire business picked itself up after a weaker prior year, and it improved its gross margin.
The men's suit specialist also announced the resignation of its finance director.
Moss Bros said pretax profit in the 26 weeks to August 1 grew to GBP2.8 million from GBP2.0 million the year before, as revenue rose 10% to GBP61.3 million from GBP55.8 million. Like-for-like sales increased 9.7%.
Divisionally, revenue in the retail division grew to GBP52 million from GBP47.2 million, while the hire division, which had been struggling recently, achieved growth in sales to GBP9.3 million from GBP8.6 million. On a like-for-like basis, retail sales rose 9.7% while hire sales were up 9.8%.
Moss Bros said that the hire business benefited from the introduction of two ranges of lounge suits and improvements in customer service delivery, as well as a successful 2015 wedding season, Royal Ascot and growth in evening wear.
Gross margin also improved to 60.1% from 59.1%, which it said was helped by an increasing contribution from its refitted stores and online growth of 59%.
Moss Bros added that like-for-like sales in the eight weeks to September 26 were up 10.4%, and that it is performing in line with board expectations for the full year.
Moss Bros will pay an interim dividend of 1.8 pence, a 5.9% rise on the 1.7p it paid the year before.
"The successful launch of our new Moss Bros sub brand line up at the start of the Autumn 2014 season, in conjunction with our ongoing store refit programme, has ensured our customer offer is now more closely defined and aligned with our target customer groups, and is steadily building equity in the Moss Bros brand," Chief Executive Brian Brick said in a statement.
"The implementation of a more coordinated and targeted promotional programme, in conjunction with improved clearance of residual stocks through our e-commerce 'Outlet' channel, has enabled us to improve our achieved gross margin. E-commerce has grown strongly in the period and this trend is expected to continue," he added.
The company added that Finance Director Robin Piggott will retire from his role on May 20. The search for his successor will commence shortly, Moss Bros said.
Shares in Moss Bros were trading up 6.0% at 97.00 pence Tuesday morning following the announcement.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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