LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Retailer N Brown received rave reviews for a West End catwalk event featuring several high-profile plus-size models to launch its new fashion ranges and a new US web platform, with analysts at N+1Singer reiterating a 'buy' recommendation on the shares.
The FTSE 250 company launched the new range from its Simply Be brand in a "size inclusive fashion show" called Curve Catwalk after conducting a study that found that 89% of its customers did not feel that their size was represented in mainstream advertising, on runways, on TV and in the fashion press.

Modelling the new ranges were size-22 fashion blogger Callie Thorpe, diversity campaigner Kellie Knox, and plus-size models from size-10 up to size-26 including Hayley Hasselhoff, Tess Holliday, Sonny Turner, Felicity Hayward and Ali Tate.

"The event was extremely well attended by the fashion press, bloggers and vloggers in what can only be described as a global first in this sector," said Matthew McEachran, adding City analysts to that list of attendees.

In his positive review, coming alongside glowing coverage from fashionistas on social media and in mainstream press such as Daily Mail, the analyst added that the event coincided with N Brown launching its new web platform in the US and ahead of other international growth initiatives where he believes there is much untapped demand.

"Simply Be is one of N Brown's online Power Brands and, in our view, accounts for some of the ongoing valuation anomaly in the group despite a good rally over 12 months."

Having generated £80.6m of profit before tax from sales of £887.7m in the year to last February as management move the sales focus online, Singer forecasts N Brown's profits will dip in the current year due to the slump in the pound but then begin to surge back to £88.0m and £95m in the next two years.

N Brown, whose three 'power brands' also include Jacomo for men and JD Williams for more mature ladies, is expected to report a 15% fall in PBT when interim results are published in four weeks' time, reflecting what is expected to be the lowest point in terms of the drag of currency effects on profit margins before management's mitigation tactics catch up.

"This alongside the share price having met our [350p] target price means we don't expect any immediate additional outperformance, but thereafter we envisage margins recovering and the growth story attracting further rerating," McEachran said.

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• STUMBLEUPON
• MIXX
• YAHOO BUZZ
• DELICIOUS
• REDDIT
• NEWSVINE