Moss Bros full year profit up 23%

Specialist menswear retailer Moss Bros posted a rise in full year profit and sounded an upbeat note on current trading.

In its preliminary results for the 52 weeks to 30 January, Moss Bros said underlying pre-tax profit rose 23.1% from the previous year to £5.9m.

Like-for-like sales including VAT increased 8.2% to £119m, while like-for-like hire sales, which represent 14% of sales, were up 11.7%.

LFL sales for the first nine weeks of the new financial year were up 5.2% with growth across in-store retail, e-commerce and hire.

Chief executive officer Brian Brick said: “We continue to make strong progress in the delivery of our strategic priorities. The modernisation of the store portfolio, which is nearing completion, is achieving the anticipated returns and we have well developed plans for the implementation of our multi-channel shopping environment.

“We have added to the strength of the management team and we are well placed to take advantage of these opportunities to accelerate our growth.”

He added that the early response to the 2016 Spring/Summer retail range has been positive and retail LFL sales and gross margins are continuing to improve year on year.

“The broadening of our Hire offer to include lounge suits is underpinning a positive start to the 2016 hire season,” Brick said.

The company said that during the period, the store refit plan has been accelerated, with 81 stores now trading in the new store format.

In addition, Tailor Me – a more accessible bespoke offer – has now been launched and will be rolled out across stores by September 2016.

At 0812 BST, Moss Bros shares were up 5.1% to 100.90p.