French Connection full year loss widens

Full year operating losses at retailer French Connection widened on the back of a disappointing trading performance in the first half of the year as the spring collection failed to impress.

For the year ended 31 January 2016, the underlying operating loss came in at £4.7m compared with a loss of £800,000 the previous year.

Group revenue, meanwhile, declined 8% to £164.2m on a reduced retail store portfolio, with 13 non-contributing stores closed during the year and “poor” like-for-like sales.

Still, the company said the second half of the year saw an improvement.

Chairman and chief executive Stephen Marks said: "Overall the performance for the year has been disappointing due to the very poor first half but the improvement we have seen during the second half and into the new financial year shows that we are definitely moving in the right direction.

“The reaction to this year's collections has been strong so far showing that we are on track. We are early in the year and have a considerable amount of work to do to take the group back to profitability although I believe that the actions we have taken to date will go a long way to taking us there."

The retailer did not recommend a dividend, saying it remained of the view that the business is best served by retaining current cash reserves to support the turnaround.

Also on Tuesday, French Connection announced the appointment of Lee Williams as group finance director and Christos Angelides as an independent non-executive director.

William, who is currently director of finance at ASOS, will take up the role with effect from 4 April, filling the vacant position.

At 1000 GMT, shares were down 1.3% to 43.45p.