French Connection has announced a seven percent fall in sales for the six months to 31 July.
Overall revenue for the group fell 10.5 percent to £27.3 million and the fashion retailer is planning to close eight stores this year.
Chief Executive Stephen Marks said: “There is no doubt that progress has not been helped by the trading conditions in which we operate in the UK.”
“Given the continued deterioration of trading conditions on the UK high street, we have reviewed the underlying lease contracts of a number of loss-making stores that we are actively looking to exit but are currently unable to and have made a one-off provision for the onerous nature of those contracts,” he added.
“The retail business benefitted from the reduction in stores we have seen over the last year, however our remaining stores saw a seven percent reduction in like for like sales across the period reflecting the difficult trading conditions in the UK.”
“We continue to actively review our retail portfolio and expect eight stores to close this year, with two having already closed in the first half. In addition given the continued deterioration of trading conditions on the UK high street, we have reviewed the underlying lease contracts of a number of loss-making stores that we are actively looking to exit but are currently unable to and have made a one-off provision for the onerous nature of those contracts.”
French Connection has hired new management and design teams as the retailer hopes to compete with rivals such as Asos (LON: ASC) and Zara (BME: ITX).
The group maintains that it remains on track to be profitable by the end of the year and would consider restarting dividend payments.
Shares in the group (LON: FCCN) are currently trading 6.19 percent at 47,00 (0846GMT).
