N Brown reports operating profit up 4.7% driven by Simply Be and Jacamo

Total sales were up 6.4% to £834.9m, while ecommerce sales were up 9.1% to £463m.

Like-for-like sales for the year were up 6.3%.

Chief executive Angela Spindler said its roll-out of Simply Be and Jacamo stores and expansion into the US had “added to our momentum”.

In the mature segment, classic fashion brand Julipa was the “star performer” up nearly 30% on last year. JD Williams has returned to growth, ahead at just 1%.

Simply Be was up 9% year on year and Jacamo was up 21%.  

Spindler said: “I am encouraged by the results of the early changes we’ve made to the business and I am delighted that the team has continued to deliver solid growth, whilst preparing for a more ambitious future. The group has maintained momentum across our multichannel offering in terms of both stores and online, growing the customer base and continuing our progress in the USA.

“We are particularly encouraged by the strong performances from our younger titles, primarily driven by Simply Be and Jacamo, and have continued to focus on revitalising our core brand of JD Williams which remains key to achieving our future growth ambitions. 

“Going forward the benefits of our strategic initiatives will start to come through as we look to achieve a double-digit rate of sales growth during the financial year ending February 2016. I am even more convinced that we have a great platform and you’ll see us build on that strong base at an even faster pace as the implementation of our plan gathers momentum.”

In the fourth quarter, N Brown began implementing strategy which it hoped would help it reach its ambition to be “The leading global retailer famous for making shopping for fashion easy and enjoyable regardless of size”.

This included introducing the option for customers to pay at point of order by debit or credit card, focusing its marketing efforts on which home categories are most relevant to its target cutstomers, and delivering growth from core brand JD Williams.

In the US, customer numbers grew by 28%. Full-year sales were up by 21% year on year. It has adjusted its strategy to exclusively focus on the ‘fashion-focused larger-sized female’ using the Simply Be brand.  

In Germany it closed its website due to “unfavourable economics” associated with return levels. German shoppers can still use the UK website.