Shares in French Connection (LON:FCCN) were left on the shelf on Wednesday after a disappointing Christmas trading update from the clothes seller.
The group said that sales in its UK & mainland European business softened in the run up to Christmas.
French Connection said sales in the 24 weeks to January 12 in UK/Europe were down 2.9% on a like-for-like (LFL) basis on the year before, of which 1.9 percentage points were due to the sale period starting a week later this time round.
The company also delayed the start of its sale period in North America, where there was some disruption to trading caused by bad weather.
“Overall, the trading in North America was broadly in-line with our expectations,” the company revealed.
Subject to trading for the rest of this month, the group expects to report a loss before tax and exceptional items for the year ending 31 January 2013 in the region of £7.5 to £8.0 million. This compares with the consensus market forecast of a loss of £5mln.
The group will close the year with net cash in the region of £25 million.
Shares in French Connection were down 11% to 26.25p in mid-morning trade.
The announcement of the financial results for the Group for the year ending 31 January 2013 will be on 13 March 2013 at which time we will provide an update on our improvement initiatives and the outlook for the new financial year.