N Brown surges as first-quarter sales jump on solid Ladieswear performance

N Brown shares surged on Tuesday as the clothing retailer reported a near-6% jump in group revenue in the first quarter thanks to a strong performance from Simply Be and JD Williams.

In the 13 weeks to 3 June, group revenue was up 5.6%, while product revenue rose 10.2%, driven by a strong performance from Ladieswear. Online revenue was 16% higher, with 71% of revenue now generated online, up four percentage points on last year.

Sales at JD Williams were up 12.7% on the year, while Simply Be sales rose 20.5% and Jacamo saw a 5.5% increase in revenue.

Meanwhile, the number of total active customers increased 4%, with Power Brand active customers up 5%.

The company left its full-year guidance unchanged but said it was closing up to five loss-making Simply Be and Jacamo dual-fascia stores. This decision takes into account weak high-street footfall, both current and predicted, along with significant future business rate increases for some stores. Together, the five stores contributed £5m revenue but accounted for the entire £2m operating loss of the company's store estate in FY17.

N Brown said the process will be completed by the end of August and it expects exceptional costs of between £10m and £14m, of which approximately 70% will be cash.

Chief executive officer Angela Spindler said: "We are pleased to report a good Q1 performance, with continued momentum across all of our brands and categories. Ladieswear and Simply Be in particular had a very strong period, with good responses to our Spring/Summer campaigns, leading to further market share gains.

"As a result of ongoing weak footfall in some locations, and with a clear focus on driving financial returns across all areas of our business, we will be closing up to five loss-making stores."

At 0840 BST, the shares were up 12.2% to 319.50p.