For the 18-week period to January 5, N Brown recorded a 1.6 per cent fall in its overall sales. The business which operates JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamco as well as a financial services division saw product sales drop by six per cent whilst financial services revenue grew by 9.7 per cent.
Simply Be and Jacamo generated 1.6 per cent and 5.5 per cent rises respectively, with JD Williams product sales falling by 3.3 per cent. Its other brands saw sales slide by 5.2 per cent, with its traditional brand sales down by 22.9 per cent.
“We continue to manage the anticipated decline of our legacy offline business and remain focused on improving our customer proposition to drive profitable online growth,” chief executive Steve Johnson said. “Trading over the Cyber and Christmas periods was relatively consistent and in line with our expectations, with the group benefiting from a more targeted and efficient approach to its promotional activity.”
For the 2019 financial year, N Brown says it too expects product gross margin to fall by up to 100 basis points and it has revised its expectations for a drop in operating costs of between two per cent and four per cent, compared to its earlier guidance of a one per cent to three per cent fall.
“Based on maintained margin guidance, continued strong financial services performance and improved operating efficiency, our full-year expectations remain unchanged,” Johnson said.
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