N Brown sizes up price rises
N Brown, the home shopping group for oversized ladies, is the latest firm to warn rising costs will cause prices to jump.
The retailer, which sells clothes through its JD Williams and SimplyBe catalogues, and also owns the High and Mighty retail chain, said rising cotton prices and higher wages in China is pushing up costs by 5 per cent. Much of this will get passed on to customers.
But the firm (up 10.2p to 253p) continued to shrug off the downturn, posting a 0.6 per cent rise in underlying sales for the six months to August 28.
Jumping: N Brown prices are to go up due to cotton price increase
Sales have recovered since the general election and emergency Budget, up around 1.9 per cent between July and August, rising to 2.1 per cent in the first six weeks of the second half.
Profits before tax rose to £42.3million from £33.3million in the first-half and the firm increased the interim dividend from 4.38p-a-share to 5.04p.
Chief executive Alan White said: 'We have grown our share of the market emphasising our strong position as the leading retailer in plus sizes in the uK.'
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