N Brown FY profits drop in 'challenging market'

In the 53 weeks to 4 March, adjusted pre-tax profit declined to £7.5m from £43.1m a year earlier, on revenue of £677.5m, down 5.3%. N Brown said the drop in revenue reflected "challenging online market conditions".

On a statutory basis, the company swung to a pre-tax loss of £71.1m from a profit of £19.2m the year before.

Adjusted EBITDA was down 39.7% at £57.3m. This was in line with the board and market expectations, N Brown said.

Product revenue declined 6.9%, with strategic brands down 5.3%.

The owner of Simply Be, Jacamo and JD Williams said it expects the challenges of a high inflationary environment and low consumer confidence to remain throughout FY24 and for full-year product revenue to decline at a slightly improved rate to that seen in FY23.

Chief executive Steve Johnson said: "We have remained adaptable to the trading environment which became more challenging during the year, as inflation impacted both our customers and our cost base. Although volumes softened, we maintained a disciplined approach to trading, with a particular focus on upholding margin despite a promotional backdrop.

"We continued to make strategic progress despite these challenges, increasing investment during the year, and we successfully launched our new mobile-first website for Simply Be.

"We are expecting the weaker consumer confidence to continue weighing on our performance before we see a return to growth and are therefore keeping a tight control of costs."