Moss Bros sees revenues and profits rise in 2014 despite competitive retail environment
Suit specialist Moss Bros reported a set of strong full-year results thanks to an increase in like-for-like retail sales.
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Moss Bros Group
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The group saw its revenues increase by 5% to £114.7m and profit before tax rise 9% to £4.8m. Earnings per share also rose from 3.76p to 4.02p.
E-commerce sales grew 58.9% thanks to an increase in online sales and growth in mobile and tablet enabled websites.
However, a difficult year in its hire business drove like-for-like hire sales down 3.6% due to a shortfall in wedding suit rentals.
Heavy discounting in special events such as Black Friday created a more competitive retail environment during the year, the group noted.
Moss Bros said its hire business is improving and is well placed to generate revenues in this year's wedding season.
Chief executive Brian Brick said: "The early response to the 2015 Spring/Summer retail range is positive, and retail like-for-like sales are continuing to improve year on year.
"Hire is showing signs of recovery and we are well placed to maximise revenues in 2015 following a difficult two years for wedding related hire.
"Although the external market continues to be fragile, the business is on track to achieve market expectations in 2015/16."
Shares were up 1.44% to 107p on Wednesday at 10:10.