N Brown results send shares to 10-month high

Final results from N Brown confirmed slow but steady progress with the catalogue retailer's transition to an online force, with a smaller decline in profits than expected sending shares to their highest since the Brexit vote.

With online accounting for 69% of group sales and online revenues up 10% year-on-year and 14% for its power brands, total sales increased 5% to £636m for the 53 weeks to 4 March compared to the 52 week period last year.

Profit before tax tumbled more than 20% to £57.6m, though underlying PBT, which excludes exceptional items and unrealised foreign exchange, was down 6.5% to £82.6m.

The fourth quarter finished positively for product sales, which has continued into the new year.

"Our performance accelerated in the second half as we demonstrated our enhanced ability to flex our product offering in-season," said chief executive Angela Spindler.

"A particular highlight was Ladieswear which delivered the best performance for almost a decade as we gained significant market share. Our customer satisfaction rating is also now the second highest in the sector and our online metrics remain strong, with over 75% of new customers coming to us online."

In fact 77% of sales from new customers were generated online during the year, compared to 72% the previous year.

Looking to the new financial year, Spindler said the challenging macroeconomic backdrop for retailers meant the management remained vigilant over core costs and efficiencies.

"We are also continuing to invest in improving our capabilities and customer experience to enable future profitable growth."

"The past few years have seen a huge amount of change in the business. We remain on track to complete the final stages of our systems programme by Summer 2018. We are focused on driving the business forward, both in the UK and internationally, and I am very confident in our prospects. Although it is early in our new financial year, performance so far has been encouraging and in line with our expectations."

There were some extra costs announced, including £4m for double running on systems and increased investment in driving international growth, notably in the USA.