Shares of Manchester-based clothing and footwear digital retailer N Brown Group fell about 3% after it published an update on trading for the 13 weeks ended June 3, 2023, showing revenue fell 9.9% to £148.7 million.
N Brown’s retail brands include JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo.
“As outlined in our FY23 preliminary results, the softer product revenue seen in Q4 FY23 has broadly continued into Q1 FY24, reflecting poor early Spring weather and low consumer confidence,” said N Brown.
“The impact of these factors on volumes has been partially offset by higher average item values, and we saw an improving product revenue trend across the quarter.
“Financial Services revenue reflects the lower FY23 closing debtor book position, as anticipated.”
N Brown reported “continued strategic progress.”
It said: “The progress in executing the group’s strategy has continued, including investment in the new mobile-first website for Jacamo, which follows the launch of the new website for Simply Be in FY23.
“As part of a rebalancing of media investment across the group towards driving brand awareness and performance, Jacamo has also launched a new partnership with LADbible to create engaging video content and wider campaigns focused on passions and skills, with every featured look shoppable at Jacamo online.”
N Brown CEO Steve Johnson said: “We have started the year with an elevated focus on the transformational priorities which will deliver the biggest benefits, including new mobile-first websites for Jacamo and JD Williams, and the delivery of our new financial services platform. We are pleased with the progress we are making including moving towards the full roll-out to customers of the new Jacamo website.
“As flagged in our FY23 Preliminary results, we expect weak consumer confidence to continue through FY24 and are therefore taking a disciplined approach to managing costs and driving margin improvements whilst we invest in the business for medium-term growth.
“We remain confident in the strategy, and expect to continue to deliver progress across each of our strategic pillars this year.”