Moss Bros Group PLC Trading Update (5937F)

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RNS Number : 5937F

Moss Bros Group PLC

19 May 2017

AGM Trading Update

19 May 2017

Moss Bros Group PLC ("the Group") the first choice in men's tailoring, today issues the following trading update for the 15 week period from 29 January 2017 to 13 May 2017, ahead of its Annual General Meeting to be held at 12.00 noon today.

The Group's overall trading performance has shown improvement on the prior year, in line with market expectations. Strong retail sales, including e-commerce, have underpinned this positive performance.

Highlights:

-- Total sales for the business for the first 15 weeks increased by 3.7% on last year; like-for-like sales were up 2.3% for the same period.

-- Like-for-like retail sales, including e-commerce, were up 5.5% with the new season's ranges performing well.

-- Like-for-like hire sales on a 'cash taken' basis were -14.2%, due to the reduced value of the deposit taken from each customer when a hire order is first placed, which was flagged at our March Prelim results. Hire order numbers booked for collection in 2017 were -3.8% below the prior year and the total value of these orders was -1.6% lower.

-- Retail gross margins were 50 basis points below the previous year. This was a result of re-introducing a mid-season Sale during April as a response to a much tougher trading environment than the previous year, when the Sale activity was removed.

-- E-commerce sales continued to increase, up 14.7% on last year, with continuing growth in mobile traffic. Total e-commerce sales now comprise 11.6% of total sales for the 15 weeks to date compared with 10.7% for the same period last year.

-- A further 3 stores have been refitted and 2 new stores have opened so far this year, bringing the total number of stores trading in the new format to 101 out of a total portfolio of 129 stores. The new format stores continue to trade ahead of non-refitted stores and are on track to achieve their anticipated payback targets.

The business continues to make good progress on its key strategic objectives and the Board is confident that the business will meet market expectations for the year.

Commenting on the outlook, Brian Brick, Chief Executive Officer, said:

"We are pleased with our progress and Moss Bros continues to trade well and in line with the Board's expectations, despite the continuing tough trading environment and a highly competitive marketplace which has seen significantly more markdown activity than the same period last year. Retail and e-commerce sales have shown further improvement against this backdrop.

We continue to be acutely aware of the economic headwinds which we will face for the remainder of the financial year, as input cost increases come into effect. We are also mindful that zero real wage growth will impact on consumer confidence. We will remain agile in our response to these market conditions.

We are focused on the peak period of our trading year, with performance strongly event driven as we enter 'wedding season', Ascot and the school prom season. We are well placed in terms of both our core offer and levels of stock availability to maximise our share of our customers' spend."

The Group will announce its Interim Results on 26 September 2017.

Like-for-like represents financial information for stores open during both the current and prior financial periods and compares 15 weeks against 15 weeks, except for stores refitted in the period, where the period closed for refit is excluded from both the current and prior financial periods. Like-for-like Hire and Tailor Me sales are calculated on cash receipts in the period, before adjustment for the movement in the level of deposits held.

For further information please contact:

Moss Bros Group Plc 0207 447 7200

Brian Brick, Chief Executive Officer

Tony Bennett, Finance Director and Company Secretary

Buchanan 0207 466 5000

Charles Ryland/Victoria Hayns/Catriona Flint

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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May 19, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)