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Online retailer N Brown Group has reported losses before tax of £57.5m for the year ending 2 March 2019, up from the loss of £16.2m recorded the previous year.
According to the group, the statutory loss before tax reflects “exceptional costs”, largely relating to legacy issues. Additionally, group revenue decreased by 0.8% to £914.4m compared with £922.2 during the previous period.
Despite this, adjusted EBITDA increased 7.9% to £128m and digital growth for its JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo brands all increased by 8.8%, 8.7% and 5.1% respectively.
CEO Steve Johnson said a “re-focusing of [the group’s] strategy” is now required, which will initially focus on its core UK market, simplifying its approach to “ensure the brand and product proposition continues to improve and resonate with customers”.
Johnson said: “We’re pleased to have delivered a solid trading performance for the year, driving a 7.9% increase in adjusted EBITDA, as we continue our transformation into a digital retailer.
“Encouragingly, we saw digital revenue growth across JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo, as we improve our customer offer whilst managing the decline of our legacy offline business. We also benefited from improved use of our promotional spend, a strong financial services performance and a drive to ensure we are operating as efficiently as possible across the business.”
He added: “All of this aims to return N Brown to sustainable profit growth, through a digital, retail-led, customer-centric strategy and at this stage in the new financial year our overall expectations are unchanged. We look forward to the future with confidence.”
