Superstition hits wedding hire sales
Public superstition over getting married in a year ending in 13 may have contributed to a 6.4% fall in hire sales at Moss Bros last year, the company said today.
The wedding market slid by 9.5% at the high street suit seller, while evening wear and school prom outfits going some way to making up for the shortfall.
That was the main black spot in what was otherwise an overwhelmingly positive set of full-year figures for Moss Bros today, as like-for-like retail sales grew by 6.4%, e-commerce sales up 208.6%, total group like-for-like sales grew by 4.2% to £122 million.
It also delivered a 41.9% increase in pre-tax profits to £4.4 million, while the improvement has continued early in the new year with a 7.3% overall sales rise in the first eight weeks.
The chain is now undergoing refits of some stores and a change in its marketing strategy to push on in the new year.
Chief executive Brian Brick said: "2013 was a difficult year for the wedding hire market. This may have been due, in part, to the widely reported '2013 effect' of customers avoiding an unlucky year, although there is no conclusive evidence of this.
"We enter the new financial year with a strong balance sheet and a commitment to a significantly increased dividend.
"The ongoing cash generation of the business will support the continued investment in store refits and develop our multi-channel capability. We will adopt Moss Bros as the master brand and will launch Moss branded sub brands in Autumn 2014."
