IMS and AGM Statement

17 Jul 2007 07:00

Brown (N.) Group PLC17 July 2007 N Brown Group plc 17 July 2007 N BROWN GROUP PLC INTERIM MANAGEMENT AND AGM TRADING STATEMENT At the Annual General Meeting being held today at 2.30 pm Lord Alliance,Chairman, will make the following statement on current trading. In the 20 weeks ended 14th July 2007 group turnover from continuing operationsis up by 15.8%. The like for like sales growth in our core home shoppingbusiness is up by 11.1%. The home shopping sales growth has been driven by another significant increasein the average spend per customer, as a result of successfully implementing anumber of key strategies. We have targeted our key customer groups with expandedcatalogues and mid-season mailings which include further additions to ourextensive range of sizes and fittings of clothing and footwear for both men andwomen. The 42% increase in our online sales reflects our plan to drive anincreasing proportion of customers to order over the internet where we are ableto maximise the cross-selling opportunities. In addition the focus on improvingthe quality of customers recruited in recent seasons has also contributedsignificantly to the increased spend per customer. The credit policy changes introduced last year and the higher proportion ofyounger customers in our debtor portfolio has, as expected, resulted in higherbad debts. This is the principal reason for a reduction in the rate of grossmargin by 1.3%. However operational cost savings have offset most of this grossmargin reduction. Sales of high summer product lines would have been even stronger barring therecent spell of inclement weather, but our performance will now depend on thelate summer and autumn catalogues. The board remains confident that these offersand the trading plans for the remainder of the financial year will deliverfurther progress. ENQUIRIES: N Brown Group plc Alan White, Chief Executive Tel: 0161 238 2202Dean Moore, Finance Director Tel: 0161 238 2208Website:www.nbrown.co.uk Gavin Anderson & Company Fergus Wylie Tel: 020 7554 1400Clotilde Gros This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange