N Brown (BWNG) has issued a shock profit warning on the back of its interim results, just weeks after declaring that "we are on track to deliver our full-year forecast."
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Chief executive Angela Spindler slashed the company's pre-tax profit guidance for the full year by 11 to 15 per cent to between £88m and £92m, citing unseasonably balmy autumn weather that caused sales in September to fall 18 per cent year-on-year. The warm temperatures in September and October have affected the entire clothing sector, including the mighty Next (NXT). However, the scale of N Brown's downgrade - just three weeks after the previous market update - casts doubt on the reliability of management guidance.