Moss Bros reports surge in profits
Men’s formalwear retailer Moss Bros has reported a surge in half year profit as it continues to build equity in its brand.
Pre-tax profit rose by 30% to £3.7 million in the six months to 30 July. Like-for-like sales increased by 4.9% while total sales climbed by 4.1% to £63.8 million.
Brian Brick, chief executive of Moss Bros, said: “The half year under review was another period of strong progress for the company.
“Having originally launched the Moss Bros sub brand line up at the start of the Autumn 2014 season, we have ensured that our customer offer is more clearly defined and more closely aligned with our target customer groups.
“Alongside this, the significant ongoing store refit programme, which will be substantially complete by the end of this financial year, has continued to steadily build equity in the Moss Bros brand.”
Like-for-like retail sales rose by 5.3% in the period with retail e-commerce sales up 7.7%. Like-for-like hire sales edged up 2.8%.
Some 89 new and refitted stores now trade in the retailer’s new format, out of a total of 125 stores. Moss Bros also opened three new stores during the period.
The company said trading in the eight weeks to 24 September had been encouraging, with like-for- like sales up 3.7%.
