N Brown Group, and its principal subsidiary, JD Williams and Company Ltd, is a leading internet and catalogue home shopping company, with over 140 years of experience in the distance shopping market. Our extensive ranges of value products, principally clothing, footwear, household and electrical goods, are carefully targeted at the right customers and are provided through whichever channels to market our customers demand. In addition we provide financial services to our customer base, including flexible credit plans.

http://www.nbrown.co.uk/

28 Jul Jefferies... 618.00 Buy

Brown N Group: Investec cuts target from 550p to 520p staying with its buy recommendation.

Trading Update for the 26 Weeks to 30 August 2014

RNS


RNS Number : 7445R

Brown (N.) Group PLC

16 September 2014






16 September 2014

N Brown Group plc



Where Fashion Fits



Trading Update for the 26 Weeks to 30 August 2014



Flagship Oxford Street store opens for Simply Be/Jacamo



N Brown Group, the online, catalogue and stores retailer, today announces a trading update for the 26 weeks to 30th August 2014.



Highlights:

· First half group revenues were down by 0.6%, (-0.5% like-for-like).

o JD Williams brand sales down 3% in the half but new customers up 20% for this season to date.

o Performance of Simply Be and Jacamo fashion ranges were up 4% and 10% respectively.

o Store like-for-like sales were strong at +17%.

o Demand for our product in the USA was up 16%.

o Active customer base increased by 3.7%.

o The quality and profitability of sales has improved.



· Transitional year progressing well.

o Home & Gift sales down 9%, with improved profitability, due to planned reduction in non-core home and electrical ranges.

o Planned phasing adjustments to Simply Be & JD Williams fashion ranges has impacted sales in the half.

o Marketing investment in catalogues was reduced by 24%. This was most significant from July and contributed to sales being down 3.2% in the second quarter. Spend has moved into customer recruitment and has been re-phased to the second half.

o Financial income is down 1.0% in the half due to lower charges.



· With these substantial product, marketing and other activities re-phased to the second half, we remain on track to deliver our year end forecast.

· Online penetration is at 58%, +1.0% year-on-year, fuelled by online recruitment.

· Lorraine Kelly and Kelly Brook appointed brand ambassadors for JD Williams & Simply Be.

· Our latest Simply Be/Jacamo dual branded store opens tomorrow on Oxford Street.

· US Credit offer launched.

· Systems development programme on track, now led by new CIO - Andy Haywood.



Angela Spindler, Chief Executive, commented:

"During the second quarter we have sharply accelerated the pace of our drive to be the global retailer famous for making shopping for fashion easy and enjoyable regardless of size. We have pushed on with our programme of far-reaching change aimed at modernising the way we operate and how we go to market, equipping the business to capitalise on the attractive long-term opportunities we see in our space. The combined effect of changes to our category focus, the planned reduction in credit sales from high risk areas and the reduction and re-phasing of our mailing programme has reduced revenues in the half, however we have improved the quality and profitability of our sales.



"I am pleased with progress so far; the team is implementing the plan effectively, delivering our differentiated offer for customers and continuing N Brown's record of strong financial performance. With a strong activity plan for the second half we are on track to deliver our full year forecast."





TRADING & STRATEGY UPDATE



Our programme of change has gathered pace during the first period as we implement the strategy we laid out in February 2014 to position the Group for long-term growth.



· Re-shaping our marketing programme



We have continued to re-shape the quantum and the timing of our direct mail and other marketing activities. The phasing of our marketing is now more aligned to the way consumers shop. This year's step re-alignment will move us from a 50:50 to a more normal seasonal ratio of 40:60 for Spring/Summer vs. Autumn/Winter.



In addition to these phasing changes, we have significantly reduced the weight of direct mail sent to customers in the quarter and for the half overall. We have shifted spend into new recruitment activities. For instance, since the start of the autumn winter season (from July) mailings to JD Williams customers are down 26% year-on-year, however new customers are up by an encouraging 20%, this will have a positive impact on next seasons revenues.



Despite the impact on recruitment of our new credit rules (see below) our overall active customer base continues to grow strongly, up 3.7% year-on-year.



This is a transitional year in which we are moving further away from a traditional mail order model and the changes we are implementing have had the effect of slowing sales growth in the first half and deferring some of our annual sales into the second half.



· Realigning the product offer



We are making good progress modernising our fashion offer for JD Williams. The new Lorraine Kelly range is working well and attracting customers. We will provide a more detailed update in our interim results statement.



In womenswear our dresses range, Fast Fashion offer and swimwear have all performed strongly. In menswear we have seen good growth, helped by sales of cargo shorts and t-shirts. Sales, year-on-year, have been more challenging in areas like knitwear and outerwear and boots, which are up against tough comparatives, however these are showing signs of recovery.



Overall Home & Gift category sales in the half were down 9% year-on-year - in line with plan. This is as a consequence of our decision to reduce sales from high bad debt risk, low margin, categories (eg. electrical sales were down 25% for the half). Home & Gift was also impacted by the reduction in our mailing programme, with investment deferred into the second half. As a result of these changes we have seen an improvement in contribution from the Home and Gift category.



These initiatives have significantly improved the quality of our sales whilst reducing like-for-like sales growth in the second quarter by around two percentage points. The £8m impact of the credit policy changes on headline sales growth is in line with guidance given at our Preliminary Results in May. We will begin to annualise on these impacts from the end of this month.



· Evolving the channel mix



We continue to improve our customers' experience online, in stores and through our contact centres. Online remains our key channel and participation grew again to just over 58% in the quarter. Traffic from mobile devices and tablets continues to grow and now accounts for 48% of the total (up from 35% last year) and 36.5% of demand (up from 26%). We launched a number of systems enhancements in the quarter to further improve our mobile optimisation ahead of Christmas trading.



Our stores channel continues to perform well, delivering like-for-like growth of 17% for the half. Our new store in Belfast opened in August and delivered record opening sales. Tomorrow we open our flagship store on Oxford Street. The store is the most size-inclusive store in town and benefits from the latest developments in in-store technology driving ease of shop, speed of service and choice. Following the Oxford Street opening we will open a further three stores before Christmas, taking the total to 14 stores as we exit the calendar year.



· Launching our brand ambassadors



In July, we launched Lorraine Kelly as our Brand Ambassador for JD Williams. Sales of her endorsed range were strong and she features in the TV advert on air from 5th September, our association with her has attracted a good deal of positive PR coverage.



In August, we announced that Kelly Brook will be the new Brand Ambassador for Simply Be. Kelly's collection will feature in our Autumn range launched in September. She will also star in our Autumn Simply Be TV campaign.



· Cash Payment option for customers



We have improved the flexibility of our proposition by introducing the option for new customers to pay by debit or credit card. This has resulted in an increased level of cash-based payments which is both in line with our expectations and stable at around 32% of new account set-ups, accounting for around 30% of accepted demand from new customers. In addition, order rates for cash customers are running just five percentage points lower than non-rolling account holders. Across our core brands, cash accounts for 5% of overall demand.



Through the first and second quarter we have seen a marked reduction in the number of customers in arrears. As expected, the financial income has reduced and is down 1.0% year-on-year due to a reduction in administration charges.



· Transforming our systems infrastructure



Our systems infrastructure project, which is a key enabler for our business transformation, is on track and is now being led by Andy Haywood, our new CIO who has joined us from the Co-op and has significant experience in successfully delivering business transformation programmes in Asda, HBOS and Boots. The major activity in the quarter has been the completion of high level design across the functions and processes in the business. We are now moving into the implementation phase for our first main release.



· Outlook



This is a transitional year for the business. Two weeks into September we remain on track to deliver our full year forecast. The adjustment to the profile of our marketing investment impacts from October and is designed to underpin peak seasonal trading up to the end of the calendar year. This, coupled with weaker comparatives, underpins our confidence in achieving the full year outturn. We will update on this at the interim results.



N Brown Group plc will be announcing Interim Results to the 30th August 2014 on the 9th October 2014.

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16 Sep Investec 520.00 Buy
16 Sep N+1 Singer 585.00 Buy

Interim Results

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4900943

IMS for the 13 weeks to 29 November 2014

RNS


RNS Number : 3397Z

Brown (N.) Group PLC

10 December 2014






10 December 2014

N Brown Group Plc



Where Fashion Fits



Interim Management Statement for the 13 weeks to 29 November 2014



N Brown Group Plc, the online, catalogue and stores retailer today announces a trading update for the 13 weeks to 29 November 2014.



At the announcement of our interim results on 9 October 2014, we advised that we had been adversely affected by unseasonably mild temperatures in September and early October which resulted in a weak start to the second half and a revision to our expectations for the year.



We are pleased to report that trading performance has improved since September as the changes we are implementing within the business take effect, with the group reporting revenue growth in both October and November.



In the following link to a graph showing revenue for the period, we show that impact of the mild weather in September resulted in a turnover decline of -10.8%. We returned to growth in October with an increase of +1.5%, which continued in November with growth of +3.0%. Overall, turnover for the third quarter declined by -2.3% with year to date down -1.2%.



http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/3397Z_-2014-12-10.pdf



We have continued with our programme of changes to move the business further away from the traditional mail order model towards our objective of being a multi-channel, fashion led retailer.



At the end of the quarter our active customer file, being those customers who have ordered in the previous twelve months, has grown by 2% year on year.



Following the re-launch of the JD Williams brand we experienced a 30% increase in new customers recruited to the brand in the quarter versus this period last year.



During the quarter we have also delivered more improvements to our online platform to enhance the customer experience. We have continued to see growth in our online business with online sales penetration now at 60% of total sales.



We opened our Simply Be and Jacamo Oxford Street store in September followed by further store openings in Merry Hill, Norwich and Edinburgh during October and November. During this quarter our Simply Be and Jacamo stores have posted overall sales growth of 78%.



We are delivering steady growth in the USA with product demand up 10% for the quarter. Recruitment investment has been contained whilst we develop and drive the benefits of introducing a credit & loyalty scheme to underpin future profitability. Since we introduced the scheme in late July, 20% of demand is now coming from account holders and second order rates across the customer file are up 36% since the launch.



Gross margin for the quarter is in line with our expectations driven by a focus on providing competitive value for our customers. We expect the trading environment to remain extremely competitive from here to our year end and therefore, despite progress made during the quarter our guidance for the year remains unchanged.



Angela Spindler, Chief Executive commented:



"We are pleased with the strength in our customer activity levels and sales during November. We have seen an excellent response from both existing and new customers to planned higher profile brand activity on our JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo power brands.



"We are continuing with our strategic plan to simplify and modernise the business. We have a clearly differentiated proposition and the longer range market projections for online growth and changing demographics are in our favour. These underpin confidence in our mission 'to be the leading global retailer famous for making shopping for fashion easy and enjoyable regardless of size'."



-Ends-
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10 Dec Credit Suisse 330.00 Neutral
10 Dec N+1 Singer 390.00 Buy
10 Dec Cantor... 320.00 Hold

BWNG Brown (N) Group on the verge/ technical breakout from a downtrend going back to March. Last Trading Statement good, one to WATCH for confirmation.

Looks good - hopefully that gap is firmly closed.

Yep moving up nicely today. Need end of day confirmation but ive jumped in and bought it.

Q4 trading update


Financial highlights:

· Q4 sales +3.6%* as trading momentum recovers well from a challenging Autumn season

· Full year sales flat year-on-year, with Financial Services revenue representing a headwind, driven by measures to further improve the quality of our debtor book

· Full year percentage gross margin in line with expectations. Within this, product gross margin was impacted by both tactical and strategic price investments in Q4

· Full year 14/15 continuing PBT now expected to be slightly below the range previously guided to, and current market consensus of £88m



Strategic highlights:

· Further acceleration in online sales penetration - 62% in Q4, up from 59% last year

· Power brands JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo performing strongly, with active customer file growth of 5%

· Q4 product volume growth +11% driven by further product improvements and price investment - the first time product volumes have seen double-digit increases for many years

· Lowest level of customer debt arrears on record as we continue to successfully focus on the quality of our debtor book

Company News

N Brown issues 'slight' profit warning after tactical investing in price and product

Wed, 11 March 2015


N Brown has warned of a lower-than-expected product gross margin percentage for the full year, the retailer's second profit warning in six months.
The FTSE 250-listed company cited substantial price investments in the fourth quarter as the reason for this decline.

Fourth quarter revenue was also impacted by the company's transition from financial services to product sales, so came in flat year-on-year, despite fourth-quarter sales growth improving to 3.6%, including 11% volume growth.

Chief executive Angela Spindler was encouraged by the momentum seen during the fourth quarter in terms of trading and strategic progress and said the company had taken "the right decisions now" and sacrificed short-term profit in order to build a "better business".

Continued product improvements was accompanied by further investments in cutting prices, which proved successful in terms of product volumes returning to double-digit positive growth for the first time in many years.

"We have also accelerated our strategic transformation programme and commenced a major extension of our warehouse to support our future growth. The transformation we are driving is fundamental and necessary for future long-term sustainable growth," she said.

"Whilst we are disappointed by the slower than anticipated progress from a profit perspective, this is because we are taking the right decisions now - in some areas earlier than anticipated by our previous profit guidance - in order to build a better business for an online world."

House broker Shore Capital explained in their words that the profit shortfall reflected 'tactical' product gross margin reduction to drive stock clearance activity, which has left the group with a clean year stock position, while further product gross margin was invested in more 'strategic' initiatives, the success of which will see a follow-through into future years at the expense of further gross margin.

FULL YEAR RESULTS
RNS
RNS Number : 6190L
Brown (N.) Group PLC
29 April 2015



29 April 2015

N Brown Group Plc



FULL YEAR RESULTS FOR THE 52 WEEKS ENDED 28 FEBRUARY 2015



STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESSING WELL;

CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE



Full year results from continuing operations:



· Total group revenue flat at £818.0m (FY14: £818.9m)

· Operating profit excluding exceptionals -11.9% to £93.8m (FY14: £106.5m)

· Statutory operating profit £81.2m (FY14: £106.5m)

· Profit before tax (excluding exceptionals and FX movement) -13.4% to £86.2m (FY14: £99.6m)

· Statutory Profit before tax -21.2% to £76.3m (FY14: £96.8m)

· Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations 20.49p (FY14: 27.74p)

· Statutory earnings per share from continuing operations 21.23p (FY14: 26.95p)

· Final dividend flat year on year at 8.56p, taking full year dividend to 14.23p, also unchanged on last year

· Net debt £246.6m (FY14: £213.7m)

· Guidance for FY15/16 unchanged



Operational highlights:



· Period of significant modernisation of business, adopting a digital-first mindset

· Change programme and weak Autumn trading impacted profit performance

· Encouraging progress on some key forward indicators

o Online sales 59% in FY15 and 62% in Q4

o High level of customer satisfaction

o Active customer base +2.4%

o JD Williams relaunch on track, with double-digit increase in new customer orders



Angela Spindler, Chief Executive, said:



"This last year was an important one for our company. We are comprehensively modernising the business in terms of organisation, capability, infrastructure and processes to adopt a digital-first mindset and to ensure that we are fit for the future of retail. We are improving our product proposition and competitive position by investing in quality and price. We have also re-phased our seasonal product and marketing to better reflect consumer spending patterns and to bring the business into line with a modern clothing retail model.



"Step-changing the way the business operates and goes to market in some key areas proved more disruptive than anticipated and this, combined with a weak Autumn trading period across the sector, led to a profit performance below expectations. We are, however, improving the sustainability of future profit growth and look to the year ahead with confidence."



Andrew Higginson, Chairman, said:



"The scale and pace of change required to modernise the business put a great deal of strain on our performance in a difficult year for the clothing sector. The fall in profits was nevertheless a disappointment. However, we laid important foundations for profit recovery and long-term growth. We have now bedded in many of these changes and this year will see us push on with executing our strategy.



"The Board remains confident in the outlook for the business, and we believe that we have the right strategy in place to drive sustainable profitable growth. I would like to thank all stakeholders in the business, and in particular the staff, for all of their hard work, passion and dedication throughout the year."





Meeting for analysts and investors:



Management is hosting a presentation for analysts and investors at 10.30am. Please contact nbrown@newgatecomms.com for further information. A live webcast of the presentation will be available at: www.nbrown.co.uk . A presentation will be made available on the website at 10.30am.

Q1 Trading statement

Pity their AGM is in Manchester, - something to consider if yr a busy London-centric investor. . . . . . . sp today is 338p
EDIT ( 11Oct2016) - +10% today, now 200p - this has been a BAD investment.

Half Yearly Report
RNS
RNS Number : 1685C
Brown (N.) Group PLC
14 October 2015

14 October 2015

N BROWN GROUP PLC



HALF YEAR RESULTS FOR THE 26 WEEKS ENDED 29 AUGUST 2015



RESULTS IN LINE WITH EXPECTATIONS;

TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY ON TRACK



N Brown Group Plc, the leading multi-channel, specialist fit fashion retailer today announces results for the half year to 29 August 2015.



Financial highlights:

· Total group revenue +4.2% to £415.8m (H1 FY15: £399.2m)

· Product revenue +6.1% and Financial Services revenue -0.4%

· Operating profit excluding exceptionals -14.2% to £38.8m (H1 FY15: £45.2m)

· Underlying trading profit* before tax -15.9% yoy to £35.0m (H1 FY15: £41.6m), in line with expectations

· Statutory profit before tax -54.6% to £19.4m (H1 FY15: £42.7m), reflecting exceptional costs accrued over the half largely relating to clearance store closures

· Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations 5.74p (H1 FY15: 11.56p)

· Statutory earnings per share from continuing operations 5.53p (H1 FY15: 11.88p)

· Half year dividend maintained at 5.67p

· Net debt £239.8m (H1 FY15: £205.2m)

· Enhanced disclosure provided today and going forward



*Underlying trading profit before tax is defined as PBT excluding exceptionals and unrealised FX movement



Operational highlights:

· Continued shift from direct mail-led to digital-first, with online penetration of 63%, up 5ppts yoy. Online penetration of new customers up 7ppts to 69%.

· Active customers +2.8% overall; within this Power Brands active customers +8.2%, driven by marketing recruitment and improved brand awareness.

· Further improvements to product quality and fashion credentials.

· JD Williams turnaround on track, with new customers up 21%. Online performance particularly encouraging, with penetration over 50% for the first time, up 8ppts yoy.

· Strong performance from Simply Be and Jacamo, with product revenue for both up 21%.

· Simply Be and Jacamo stores performed well, with LFL +6% and profitability of LFL stores +12%

· Full estate store review completed, with operational improvements made to Simply Be and Jacamo store estate and 18 clearance stores closed.

· Good USA result, with revenue +35% and operating loss significantly reduced.

· Financial Services performance in line with expectations, with continued improvements in the quality of the credit book, and FCA application submitted.

· Fit 4 the Future systems transformation project on track.

21 Oct Jefferies... 430.00 Buy

Nice bounce on this today, up nearly 20% at moment, dividend maintained (>8%) and profit down less than expected. Hopefully now bottomed out, one of my less successful shares and now a long term investment, just another 30% for me to break even, ignoring the dividends received.

Citigroup comment:
"Consensus PBT likely to remain unchanged — On the back of this statement we do not expect FY17E consensus PBT to change significantly. We have a FY17E PBT forecast £79.3m (EPS 22.7p, -9.3% yoy), this assumes FY total sales of +1.9%. We assume FY gross margins -70bp with opex growth of +3%. This drives forecast EBIT growth of -8.9% yoy. Our FY17E PBT forecast of £79.3m (-10.2% yoy.

Neutral rating, TP 180p

We value N Brown on c. 9. 5x EV/EBIT for Feb 2018E in line with its recent average, this equates to c9x PE and a 6% dividend yield in the same forecast year."

Dropped to 160p a while back, but good news ( can't get worse!) and MoS +Broker "Buys" appear to have shifted this to 260p - maybe if the excitement fades and Sales remain level it may be worth topping up; to AvDn ( always risky ).
EDIT(30May2018)-sp £2 DYOR but looking at the graph from 2014 it's been staggering downwards from over £5 . . . despite being a Long-Term "Distance Seller" ( the JD Williams arm)... so the "INTERNET" is hardly any change at all..... yet the Clothing+Household buying Public appear to be going elsewhere.... Management - that's it...like M&S unwilling to see it's THEIR fault!
EDIT(11Oct2018)-Dividend halved ( now ~5% yield), sp lost 20%, now £1.11 - that's a mighty (again) fall!