N Brown pleased with strong first half

Uk home shopping group N Brown today hailed a “strong and sustained” performance during the first half of the year, boosted by the popularity of its Simply Be catalogue.

The Manchester-based company, which specialises in larger sizes, reported a 17.5% rise in pre-tax profits to £34.3m (€49.7m) during the six months to August 25 after it benefited from the launch of four new catalogues and extended its product ranges.