N Brown pre-tax profits surge

Home shopping group N Brown reported a strong set of interim results today.

The retailer pulled through the sector downturn, with pre-tax profit for the 26 weeks to August 27 rocketing 45.1 per cent to£23.5 million, against a profit of£16.2 million the previous year.

N Brown chief executive Alan White (pictured) said: 'This is an encouraging set of results in the current retail environment and we are particularly pleased with the growth across all our core home shopping customer and product segments.'

The home shopping division's turnover rose by 9.4 per cent to£225.6 million. The strongest growth was achieved by the younger catalogue titles, with a sales increase of 10 per cent to£57 million. Sales of plus-size womenswear fashion brand Simply Be rose 32 per cent.