French Connection boss upbeat on future as retailer cuts losses
FRENCH Connection boss Stephen Marks said yesterday that the retailer has reached “the tipping point” at which it could become a successful business again, as turnaround efforts helped it to cut full-year losses.
The fashion brand reported an underlying pre-tax loss of £4.4m in the year to the end of January but this was an improvement on losses of £7.2m a year earlier and the £4.7m guidance it gave just last month.
Marks said a shake-up of its management team, improvements to its product ranges and actions taken to sell more stock at full-price had all helped to restore its fortunes.
Revenues fell four per cent to £189.4m after it closed nine shops, while like-for-like sales were up 1.4 per cent in the second half of the year compared with a 4.5 per cent decline in the first half year.