Brown Group Regulatory News (BWNG)

14 Jan 2008 07:00

Brown (N.) Group PLC14 January 2008 Interim Management Statement and Trading Update N Brown Group plc, the home shopping retailer, today announces a trading updatefor the 20 weeks ended 12th January 2008. Group sales both in total and on a like for like basis have increased by 14.0%.Sales are now exclusively derived from our home shopping business following thedisposal of Zendor, our fulfilment business, in December 2007. This upwardmomentum in sales growth has been delivered across all key customer groups andproduct ranges, including a strong performance from ladies clothing. Sales from our established customers have been ahead of our expectations due tohigher response rates and an increase in average spend, driven by improvementsto our product ranges, catalogues and websites. In addition sales from newcustomers recruited in the second half have increased by 30%. This is as aresult of significant extra recruitment advertising for both existing cataloguebrands and the new titles launched in 2007, namely Simply Yours, Marisota andJacamo. Online sales growth has accelerated to 48% in the period from 40% in thefirst half, and orders taken over the internet now account for 28% of our totalsales. In the period gross margin is 0.5% below last year's rate, in line with ourexpectations, due to the ongoing changes in customer and product mix. Additionaloperational cost savings have more than offset this margin decline and fundedthe expanded customer recruitment and reactivation campaigns which will providea stronger customer file from which to trade as we enter our new financial year. The financial position of the group remains stable and has not significantlychanged since the interim results. The success of our overall strategy to focus on niche customers and products isevidenced by our continued sales growth, which has been achieved despite thepostal strike in October 2007, and the impact of other external retail marketconditions. The board is confident that we can meet our profit expectations forthe 53 weeks to 1st March 2008 and that we are well placed for the nextfinancial year. ENDS The company will be hosting a conference call for analysts and investors at 8:00am GMT today. Participants are invited to call five minutes prior to this time. Direct Dial-in number 01296 31 7500Passcode 620 380 A replay facility will be available for a week after the announcement: Dial-in number 0207 136 9233 and passcode 1068 8295 For further information please contact: N Brown Group plc Alan White, Chief Executive Tel: 0161 238 2202Dean Moore, Finance Director Tel: 0161 238 2208 Website: www.nbrown.co.uk Gavin Anderson & Company Fergus Wylie / Clotilde Gros Tel: 020 7554 1400 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange