Moss has announced the achievement of improved trading in the first ten weeks of its fourth-quarter with total sales increasing by 3.8 per cent year-on-year. For the 23 weeks to 5 January, it posted a total sales rise of 0.6 per cent for the same period in the previous year, but this was 1 per cent lower on a like-for-like basis.
The retailer said it was making progress in a “tough” marketplace and had resolved the stock availability issues caused by temporary supply chain problems which impacted performance in its first quarter. It also reported that some of its retail stores had under-performed due to lower footfall and that it had needed to discount after Black Friday to remain competitive.
Brian Brick, CEO, Moss Bros said: “As I noted at the time of our interim results in September, we had already seen more intensive discounting from our competitors and this has continued throughout the period. Having originally sought to resist discounting pressures, we too have found the need to adopt a more tactical, discount-led pricing stance across all retail channels. Whilst this proved successful in delivering top-line sales growth, there has been an expected negative impact on gross margin rates, which ensured that the group managed the level of terminal stock.”
Brick added: “Despite the improving trend in performance, we anticipate the period ahead will continue to be extremely challenging, as a result of the uncertain consumer environment, wider political backdrop and the significant cost headwinds that we continue to face from a weaker pound and further increases in business rates and employee-related costs.
“We do however see the weaker environment as an opportunity to enhance our specialist market position and strengthen our core brand proposition, so we retain a sustainable point of differentiation.”
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