LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in Moss Bros Group PLC's were left scuffed on Tuesday after the men's formal wear seller said it swung to an annual loss, with same store sales declining.
Moss Bros also cut out its final dividend as it looks to preserve cash in a difficult environment.
The stock was down 11% on Tuesday morning at a price of 21.33 pence each.
Moss Bros posted a pretax loss of GBP4.2 million for the 12 months to January 26, following a pretax profit of GBP6.7 million the year before. On an adjusted basis, the firm recorded a pretax loss of GBP400,000.
This loss, Chief Executive Brick Brick said, is the tailor's first on an adjusted pretax basis since its financial year ended 2011.
Moss Bros booked GBP3.8 million worth of exceptional costs, including an impairment on some stores and "dilapidation" provisions of GBP2.6 million.
Revenue fell 2.1% year-on-year to GBP129.0 million, with like-for-like sales declining 4.3% to GBP140.2 million.
Like-for-like retail sales fell 3.6%, after 2.9% growth the year prior, while like-for-like hire sales slumped 9.3% after a 6.2% decline.
"As previously reported, we suffered from a combination of a significant stock shortage and extremes of weather, alongside sporting distraction in the first half, which impacted footfall into our stores," said CEO Brick.
"Whilst we were able to improve our performance in the second half of the year, this was in part as a result of adopting a more aggressive trading stance in reaction to competitor activity. We saw positive sales momentum during the fourth quarter, but as a consequence of deeper discounting, the gross margin rates which we achieved were lower than planned."
Moss Bros' gross margin was 57.5%, down from 59.8% the year before, hurt by both a weaker pound and discounting.
As a result of the "volatile" trading environment, Moss Bros will not be paying a final dividend. It returned an interim payout of 1.5 pence per share, having paid out 4.0p for the whole of its previous year.
Trading has strengthened in the first eight weeks of its new financial year, Moss Bros said, but things are still volatile. Total sales are up 3.6%, with retail like-for-like sales rising 3.9%.
"Looking forward, in common with many UK retailers, we continue to anticipate an extremely challenging retail landscape, particularly within our physical stores, as a result of reduced footfall and rising costs," added Brick.
"Alongside the macro trend of more retail transactions moving online, we expect the uncertain consumer environment and significant cost headwinds to continue."
