Moss Bros rises on store revamps, online expansion

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 12, 2017

Menswear specialist Moss Bros has been revamping its stores and investing in its website as it seeks growth in a tough market. Has it all paid off? It seems so. The company on Thursday said that the 23 weeks to January 7 saw comparable sales across its business up 6.1%, comparable sales in its retail ops up 6.8%, and total sales up a healthy 7.6%.

The company said that retail sales, including e-commerce, comprised 90% of group revenue during period and continued to benefit from the increasing number of refitted stores as well as its “more authoritative brand proposition.”  

With 128 stores, the company is now operating 97 that are either new or have been revamped and plans to refit another 11 this fiscal year.

Meanwhile e-commerce sales for the period rose 24.9% on last year as the online business benefitted from the investment in 'back-end' systems and processes made during the first half. The improvements enabled it to drive top line sales during the second half and make progress in delivering a higher level of customer service. E-commerce sales made up over 11% of group revenue during the period.

Hire sales increased by only 0.7% on a comparable basis during the period but Hire as a proportion of total sales declined during the second half.

Overall, gross margins for the half year to-date improved by 1.4% on last year, a further improvement on the 1.8% increase achieved during the first half. This is largely due to the ongoing improvement in retail gross margins from a more carefully targeted promotional programme.

CEO Brian Brick said: “A more co-ordinated approach to our programme of offers and promotions, along with the ongoing development of our own label product ranges, has driven continued margin improvements across all channels during the 23 weeks under review.”

But while he was upbeat and said the board remains confident about the full year, he added that “the year ahead looks set to be a challenging one, not least the uncertain consumer environment, wider political backdrop and higher input costs. We are therefore preparing the company for a more competitive trading environment and we are planning and deploying our resources accordingly."