Glimmer of hope as FC tumbles to £10.5m loss

The chain said it was still early days but that changes to in-store operations and well-received spring and summer ranges indicated it was moving in the right direction after a 7 per cent slide in UK sales last year.

With the UK and Europe arm racking up losses of £16m in the year to January 31, French Connection recorded an overall bottom-line loss of £10.5m, against profits of £5m a year earlier.

Founder and chief executive Stephen Marks, who has called conditions the worst he has known in 40 years of trading, said: “Although it is very early days in the new year, we have seen a better performance in UK retail, and we expect this to build as the year progresses.”

The company has 74 stores in the UK and Europe, as well as licensed and wholesale operations around the world, including Hong Kong and China. Mr Marks predicted “steady and significant” improvement in the company’s trading performance and a return to profitability by 2015.

He has vowed to manage the business cautiously in order to limit discounting and increase full-price sales. Other changes have included a revised approach to rostering in order to ensure better staff coverage at peak times and changes to merchandising to enable the quicker re-stocking of best-selling lines.

Mr Marks added: “Many of the initiatives we have taken are beginning to show interesting results.”