By Greg Wright

Published 5th Jul 2023, 08:36 BST

The womenswear business said it saw a “strong recovery” over the year to March but has seen sales slide more recently.

Quiz recorded a 15 per cent decrease in revenues to £23.2m for the past three months to the end of June as it was impacted by tough comparatives from the previous year and “inflationary pressures on consumer demand.”

Tarak Ramzan, founder and chief executive officer of the business, said: “The trading environment in the opening months of the new financial year has been tough reflecting the widely publicised external economic factors impacting consumer demand.”

Policymakers at the Bank of England have been closely studying data about inflationary pressures

He highlighted that the challenging backdrop is expected to “continue into the second half” of the financial year but told shareholders he is confident the group can achieve profitable growth in the longer term.

On Wednesday morning, the retailer reported a pre-tax profit of £2.3m for the year to March 31, compared with a roughly £800,000 profit a year earlier.

It came after revenues grew by 17 per cent to £91.7m for the year.

Quiz said it benefited from increased sales of products at full price as well as efforts to control costs and offset inflationary pressure during the year.

Mr Ramzan added: “Our full-year 2023 results reflected a strong recovery in consumer demand for Quiz’s occasion-wear-led product offering, resulting in positive sales and profit growth.

“The past year once again demonstrated the benefits of the group’s omni-channel model as we saw encouraging revenue growth across stores and online.”

Businesses across a wide range of sectors have been affected by inflationary pressures in recent months.

Earlier this week, bosses at Sainsbury’s said food inflation was starting to fall.

The UK’s second largest grocery chain also said sales volumes returned to growth last year, with shoppers buying more items despite the intense pressure on rampant food and drink inflation.

Latest official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show food inflation eased slightly in May but remained at a stubbornly high 18.4 per cent.

Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts said the chain has seen its own prices at “less than half the headline rate” of food inflation.

He added that rises are now stalling, with prices on the retailer’s 100 most popular products falling over the latest quarter.

Quiz warns over ‘tough’ sales conditions as inflation weighs on shoppers