N Brown recovers from the deep freeze

The UK clothing market is struggling, but adjusted pre-tax profit of £81.6m beat consensus expectations for apparel retailer N Brown (BWNG), while like-for-like group revenue grew by a steady 3.9 per cent. Management warned that March was a difficult month for fashion retail – likely a reference to the disruptive snowy weather and consequent delays in demand for spring/summer stock. Despite the deep freeze, expectations for the current year remain unchanged, as pent-up demand eventually thawed thanks to April's brief heatwave.