12 March 2014 – final results
Results for the year ended 31 January 2014 provide further evidence that turnaround of the business remains on track. After delivering a reduction in losses in the first half, an underlying operating profit of £1.7m was delivered in the second half versus a loss of £0.9m in the corresponding period a year earlier. Group underlying operating loss before taxation (and excluding store closure costs) for the year was better than expectations at £4.4m, an improvement on the loss of £7.2m a year earlier. Ecommerce now represents 20% of retail sales and with a gross margin of 56.9% in retail versus 32.5% in wholesale, growth in online sales could have a meaningful impact on overall profitability moving forwards. We rate the shares as a BUY.