Moss Bros sees improvement in sales and gross margins

By

Cajsa Lykke Carlson

Published
Jan 14, 2016

Moss Bros, the UK men's tailoring retailer, saw total sales increase by 4.8% year-on-year in the 23 weeks to January 9. Like-for-like sales rose 4.2%.

Moss Bros' refitted stores helped retail sales, which comprise 86% of group revenue, increase by 3.5% in the period. Hire sales rose by 9.5% and the company said it maintained the momentum seen in the first half of the year. Overall gross margins were up 2.8%, as retail gross margins benefited from continued focus on more coordinated, better targeted promotions.

The company continued to see good e-commerce growth. E-commerce sales now comprise 10% of group revenue and were up 32.7% year-on-year. Moss Bros now has a total of 126 retail outlets, 81 of which trade in its new shop format.

Commenting on the outlook, Brian Brick, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are pleased with the progress of our promotional strategy, with fully coordinated and better targeted offers in our retail business. This has allowed more consistent full price trading, particularly through the Black Friday trading period, with gross margins showing a sustained improvement as a consequence. This is despite a challenging Autumn trading environment, with unseasonably warm weather conditions. Hire has shown continued strong growth on the prior year, with notable success in eveningwear."

Moss Bros said it continues to make good progress and its board is confident in the outlook for the full year.