“Overall trading in the quarter has been in line with our expectations and our guidance for the full year remains unchanged. Product sales have been satisfactory when viewed against the challenging market backdrop. The growth achieved in Financial Services revenue was driven by the increase in new credit customers over the previous financial year”, commented Angela Spindler, CEO, adding: “Our three Power Brands, JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo, continue to outperform the wider Group.

N Brown announced group revenue for the first quarter down by 0.2% as product revenue dropped by 1.6% and financial services revenue rose by 3.4%.

The group which was formerly focused on catalogue sales confirmed online sales penetration is increasing with 76% of new customer’s demand coming from the internet in the period.

The JD Williams brand itself saw double-digit growth, although revenues for JD Williams as a whole were slightly down due to a weak performance from the Fifty Plus title. Power Brands product revenues were flat in the quarter.

Product revenue of the Secondary Brands, namely Fashion World, Figleaves, High and Mighty and Marisota, was marginally lower year-on-year.

By category, menswear achieved the strongest performance, driven by improved products, with revenue up in mid-single digits. Footwear revenue declined in mid-single digits and ladieswear saw a low single-digit decline in revenue year-on-year against a challenging market backdrop.