Moss Bros full year profits rise on improved sales
Menswear specialist Moss Bros enjoyed increases in profit and sales last year despite the Royal Jubilee celebrations and the Olympic Games disrupting trade.
Moss said that its group-like-for like sales increased by 3.9% in the year to 26 January 2013. Retail sales rose 4.1% on a like-for-like basis while hire sales saw an uplift of 3.1%.
Pre-tax profit before exceptional items was £3 million, an increase of £2.1 million on the prior year. EBITDA rose to £7.9 million from £5.8 million in 2011, driven by improved sales and tight cost control. Online sales grew by 54.3%
Moss said that its hire business put in an “excellent performance” despite a disrupted trading year which was impacted by the Royal Jubilee and the summer’s sporting events.
Never Miss a Retail Update!The retailer refitted 14 stores during the period as part of plans to refurbish 90 stores over the next five years.
Moss said it was confident that the business would achieve market expectations in 2013/14 although sales in the first seven weeks of the new financial year had been slightly below last year’s levels, albeit on stronger gross margins.
The retailer added that like-for-like gross profit in the seven weeks to 16 March 2013 was 2.4% below last year although online sales were significantly ahead of last year.
Hire sales for the 2013/14 wedding season had seen a slow start to the year, due to an increasing trend for bookings to be made later in the season. Moss said that new initiatives on hire would help mitigate any shortfall, including new product ranges and a new transactional website planned to launch in H2 2013/14.
Commenting on the results and outlook, chief executive Brian Brick said: “We continue to make good progress and to bring momentum to the growth in profit in spite of tough trading conditions. During 2013/14 we will continue the roll-out of the store development programme and the development of our e-commerce multi-channel offering.
“In parallel, we will undertake a customer insight project, to develop a clearer brand proposition for the business, enabling us to target customers in a more defined way. Further opportunities for growth are well supported by our strong balance sheet.
“The operational trends in the business are moving in the right direction and, although trading in the first seven weeks of 2013/14 is slightly below last year’s levels, we remain confident that the business will continue to make good progress in 2013/14 and meet market expectations.”
