If not offering quite the shock of its famous advertising campaigns of the 1990s, French Connection nonetheless delivered a nasty surprise yesterday by announcing a first-half, pre-tax loss of £7.9 million.
The figures were worse than some City analysts, including Numis, the fashion chain’s own broker, had predicted and gave more fuel to critics of its plans for recovery.
French Connection, once lauded for its cheeky “fcuk” logo and marketing strategies, said that its latest setback, nearly double the loss that it made this time last year, had been because of a “disappointing” performance in its spring collection.
It had already warned in April that its profits would be hit by poor Easter trading, in which its till receipts had been “materially lower than expected”.