Moss Bros scrubs up well as interim profit surges

(ShareCast News) - Shares in Moss Bros Group jumped 6% early on Tuesday, as the formal menswear retailer reported a sharp increase in hire sales in the first half of the year.In the six months to 1 August, the London-listed group posted a 9.8% year-on-year in like-for-like hire sales, while retail sales rose 9.7%.In a statement released on Tuesday, the company added pre-tax profit surged 44% to £2.8m, while total revenue rose 9.8% to £61.3m.Suit hire accounts for just the 14% of the retailer's total sales but the group said it expected the momentum to carry on into the second half and reported a 10.4% increase in like-for-like sales for the current half.Moss Bros said trading performance continued positively, in line with the board's expectations and the business was well placed to make further progress during the second half.The group added it hiked its interim dividend by 5.9% to 1.8p per share.Moss Bros shares were up 6.01% to 97.00p at 0832 BST on Tuesday.