Online and mail order clothes seller N Brown Group PLC (LON:BWNG) saw an acceleration in year-on-year revenue growth at the end of last year.
In the 18 weeks to the end of 2016, group revenue was 4.1% higher than in the same period the year before.
In the preceding 13 weeks, revenue had been up 2.1% year-on-year and in the quarter before that it was down 0.2%, so things are definitely moving in the right direction for the company.
"I am pleased to report a good trading period, with standout performances from Ladieswear and the Simply Be brand. All key brands and categories grew in the period, including our Traditional titles, which had diluted performance in the first half,” said Angela Spindler, chief executive officer.
The transition to online sales is adding some vim to sales growth. Online sales grow 12% year-on-year in the latest period, and now account for 70 of group revenue.
Around 72% of online traffic is from people using mobile devices, and sales conversion from these visits continues to improve, Spindler said.
“We are benefiting from improved trading agility as a result of the transformational changes we have made. This was reinforced by our performance across Cyber fortnight which resulted in two record-breaking weeks for the business. In light of our trading performance, as we approach the year-end, we are comfortable with current market expectations,” Spindler declared.
Those market expectations may be about to rise, however, with the shares surging 9.7% to 223p in the first half hour of trading.
House broker Shore Capital, however, stuck with its profit before tax forecast of £80.2mln for the current year, which is a shade above the current market consensus of £79.5mln.
“Against a challenging comparative for N Brown (Q3 FY2016 product sales +3.7%) the group has reported +5.9% product sales growth, comfortably above Shore Capital and consensus expectations of +3.7%,” noted Shore’s retail analyst, Clive Black.