Plus-sized clothing specialist N Brown (BWNG) has delivered yet more solid growth. Like-for-like sale rose 5.5 per cent in the year, while pre-tax profit grew 2.6 per cent to £95.1m - after adjusting for fair value adjustments to financial instruments and the fact that last year's figures covered 53 weeks.
Strip out a £6.8m hit related to investment in marketing, international trading and seven new high street stores, and core UK home shopping profit rose 7.9 per cent to £109m. Much of this performance was driven by a 24 per cent rise in sales from new, predominantly younger, customers. Indeed, revenue from brands aimed at younger shoppers, such as Simply Be, grew 15 per cent to £305m. Conversely, progress slowed among brands targeted at over-50s - sales there rose just 1 per cent to £480m as customers reigned in their spending and management spent less on marketing in this category. Online sales, though, jumped 15 per cent to £424m and now generate 55 per cent of total revenue. In the US, meanwhile, revenue soared 75 per cent to £8.4m. Management sees significant potential to tap into the $35bn (£23bn) plus-sized US market.
Broker Panmure Gordon expects pre-tax profit of £104.3m for 2014, giving EPS of 28.59p (from 28.09p in 2013).
| N BROWN (BWNG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 445p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.26bn | |
| TOUCH: | 445-445.1p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 445p | LOW: 223p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.1% | PE RATIO: | 16 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 157p* | NET DEBT: | 42% | |
| Year to 2 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 663 | 92.3 | 22.9 | 9.19 |
| 2010 | 690 | 85.7 | 22.8 | 10.8 |
| 2011 | 719 | 94.5 | 26.0 | 12.4 |
| 2012 | 753 | 96.9 | 29.3 | 13.0 |
| 2013 | 785 | 96.4 | 28.5 | 13.7 |
| % change | +4 | -1 | -3 | +5 |
Ex-div: 24 Jun Payment: 26 Jul *Includes intangible assets of £69.6m, or 25p a share | ||||
