A well- known menswear chain with stores in Gloucester and Cheltenham has today announced positive news about sales.

Moss Bros said the total business sales for the first 15 weeks had increased to 3.7 per cent on last year and the like-for-like sales were also up to 2.3 per cent for the same stretch of time.

In addition, a further three stores have been refitted and two new stores have opened this year so far, bringing the total number of stores trading in the new format to 101 out of a total portfolio of 129 stores.

Moss Bros has shown an improvement on the previous year in line with market expectations with strong retail sales as mentioned above, e-commerce sales were also up 5.5 per cent with the new seasons ranges shown to be performing well.

The e-commerce sales continued to increase up to 14.7 per cent on last year, with continuing growth in mobile traffic, the total e-commerce sales now comprise 11.6 per cent of total sales for the 15 weeks to date with 10.7 per cent for the same period last year.

However, retail gross margins were 50 basis points below the previous year as a result of re-introducing a mid-season sale during April as a response to a much tougher year in the trading environment than the previous.

The board is confident that the business shall continue to make good progress on its key strategic objectives and shall meet with the market expectations of the year.

In the company's trading update, Moss Bros CEO Brian Brick said: "We are pleased with our progress and Moss Bros continues to trade well and in line with the board's expectations, despite the continuing tough trading environment and a highly competitive market place which has seen a significant markdown in activity than the same period of time in a previous year.

"On the other hand, retail and e- commerce sales have shown improvements against this backdrop.

"We shall remain agile in our response to market conditions by being aware of the economic headwinds we shall face for the remainder of the financial year as the increase in input comes into effect.

"During the trading year we are focused on our peak period with retail performance being very strongly event ridden as we are approaching the wedding season, school proms and Ascot.

"Moss Bros are well placed in terms of both our core offer and levels of stock availability to maximise our share of customers spend."

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