N Brown, the British home shopping company which caters for fuller-figured women, has defied difficult market conditions to deliver a higher than expected 19.4 per cent rise in pre-tax profits.

The Manchester-based group produced a £78 million pre-tax profit for the year to March 1, ahead of market expectations of £75 million. N Brown said that group revenue for the year increased 16.6 per cent to £610.9 million, beating forecasts of £601 million.

The retailer said that it will increase its final dividend by 20 per cent to 6.41p, taking the total for the year to 9.06p.

The company, whose brands include Simply Be, JD Williams, Marisota and Jacamo, reported an encouraging start to the new financial year.

Shares in N Brown rose more than 5 per cent to 247.75p after the announcement.

Lord Alliance of Manchester, N Brown's chairman, said in a statement: “Our core strategy of focusing on niche customers and products has been successful during the recent difficult market conditions across the sector as a whole.”

N Brown reported that online sales have grown by 50 per cent over the past 12 months and represent 28 per cent of all sales, compared with 22 per cent last year.

On a like-for-like basis sales were up 12.5 per cent excluding the benefit of an extra trading week in the year which generated additional revenue of £12.5 million.

Home shopping sales for the eight weeks to April 26 were up 12.1 per cent on the same period last year, continuing trends from the prior year.

However bad debts at the retailer were running at a 13 per cent increase.

N Brown's gross margin fell by 0.4 per cent compared to last year due to changes in its product and customer mix. The company expects the squeeze on margins to continue throughout the year.

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