Fashion brands see improved sales trends

The owner of fashion brands including Ann Harvey, Dash and Kaliko today reported a “marked improvement” in sales over recent weeks as it looks to bounce back from a difficult autumn for trading.

Alexon pinpointed a tough six weeks around the time of the government’s spending review as like-for-like sales growth slowed to 0.4% between August 1 and November 23.

The figure had been 7% higher in mid-September.

The firm admitted it remained cautious about the trading outlook but said it was encouraged by trends over the last three weeks, when sales have shown a marked improvement.

Alexon reported progress in plans to revive brands such as Kaliko, Alexon and Ann Harvey and said margins for the autumn and winter period increased by 2.8 percentage points due to greater control of promotional activity.