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Moss Bros sales edge up 1.5% year-on-year

Lauretta Roberts
15 May 2019

Menswear group Moss Bros said its sales had improved by 1.5% for 15-week period from 27 January 2019 to 11 May 2019 as both full price retail store sales and e-commerce delivered positive progress on last year.

The hire business, however, remained "challenging" but the company said they believed this "reflects a continued switch in occasionwear to the Group's retail and Tailor Me offer."

Total like-for-like sales were down -0.2%, however total like-for-like retail sales, including e-commerce, were up 2.2%, "reflecting a strong e-commerce performance alongside positive momentum in high street stores".

E-commerce sales were up 18.7% and online sales accounted for 15.5% of total sales for the 15 weeks to date, compared with 13.0% for the same period last year. Like-for-like hire sales on a 'cash taken' basis were down -15.6%.

Moss Bros currently trades from 127 stores and closed two marginal stores (in Bridgewater Park and Bexleyheath) during the period and relocated its Coventry store.

Commenting on the results, CEO Brian Brick said: "We are making progress on last year, having recovered from the stock issues and improved our supply chain. Retail and e-commerce sales have shown further improvement against this backdrop. Although Hire continues to disappoint, it is clear this is reflecting a switch from Hire to retail with the new Tailor Me range.

"We are building momentum in new channels to market and we are seeing a growth in new customers as a result. Tailor Me continues to gather momentum and is showing 32% growth in order value versus last year.

"We are focused on the peak phase of our trading year, encompassing; wedding season, prom and Ascot. The wider trading environment remains both highly competitive and price sensitive, but we are well placed with our strong core offer and levels of stock availability."

He added that the business, which today staged its AGM, was on track to meet market expectations for the year.

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