* FY 2015 underlying operating loss 4.7 mln stg
* Co cites "poor performance" of spring, summer collections
* Co brings back FCUK logo, makes two appointments
* Shares slump as much as 11.7 pct (Adds details, comments, updates share price)
By Aastha Agnihotri
March 15 (Reuters) - French Connection Group Plc reported a bigger full-year loss after its spring and summercollections failed to capture the imagination of shoppers in afiercely competitive UK fashion market.
The company's shares fell as much as 11.7 percent on Tuesdayto their lowest in more than two months.
More than three years into a turnaround plan, FrenchConnection has struggled to restore its ebbing popularity onBritain's high streets. The company attributed its bigger 2015loss to "poor performance" in the first half of the year.
"Customers weren't liking what they were seeing," NeilWilliams, French Connection's operations director, told Reuters."Fundamentally, the poor performance of Spring 15 was all downto the collection."
The company has since made changes to its in-house team ofdesigners, a spokesman said. This year's spring collection includes T-shirts bearing the FCUK logo that was a huge hit forthe company in the 1990s.
The company also announced the appointment of two fashionindustry veterans. Lee Williams will join on April 4 as financedirector from online fashion retailer ASOS Plc.
Christos Angelides, who has spent most of his career at NextPlc, was appointed an independent non-executive directornearly three months after U.S. teen apparel retailer Abercrombie& Fitch Co terminated his employment without cause. (http://bit.ly/1QUfAaF)
Like their U.S. counterparts, established fashion retailersin Britain are adjusting to the changing habits of thriftyshoppers, who increasingly favour Internet shopping and cheaper"fast fashion" chains.
French Connection's underlying operating loss widened to 4.7million pounds ($6.7 million) for the year ended Jan. 31 from0.8 million pounds a year earlier.
Revenue fell 8 percent to 164.2 million pounds.
"The turnaround plan wasn't aggressive enough and theproduct ranges haven't been right," said Freddie George, analystat Cantor Fitzgerald.
French Connection shut 13 stores in the financial year, inaddition to the dozens already closed as part of its turnaroundprogramme. To preserve cash for that programme, the company saidit would not recommend a dividend.
Having recovered some of their earlier losses, FrenchConnection's shares were down 4.0 percent at 43.11 pence at 1230GMT.($1 = 0.7020 pounds) (Reporting by Aastha Agnihotri in Bengaluru; Additionalreporting by Subrat Patnaik; Editing by Savio D'Souza and RobinPaxton)
Next (NXT)
