Jacamo owner crosses fingers amid sales glut

LAURA MCGUIRE

focus on the performance of the new categories division will continue to heat up,” Matt Britzman, equity analyst for Hargreaves Lansdown, said.

“Profitability in this area is the next major milestone, now expected in 2024, earlier than initially expected.”

Sales of so-called next generation products are expected to grow by nearly a quarter in 2023 to more than £3.5bn, according to analysts at AJ Bell.

Thousands of staff could lose their job as it pivots toward new technologies and trims down the old side of the business, BAT said earlier this year.

The update follows the firm reporting an annual adjusted operating profit of £12.4bn in February, and paying $635m (£512m) to US authorities for breaching sanctions relating to North Korea.

INVESTORS in online retailer N Brown will be looking for signs of recovery in its full year results this week, after the firm paid out a hefty legal settlement and has struggled amid a broader slowdown in consumer spending.

N Brown, which owns brands such as Simply Be and Jacamo, reported a 7.6 per cent dip in revenues to £249.2m in the third quarter amid a slowdown in consumer spending amid the cost of living crisis.

It also handed £49.5m to Allianz insurance to settle a long-running dispute over its insurance products.

At the time, chief Steve Johnson warned that he expected to attract less customers over the next year due to a tough trading environment, describing the market as “soft”.

But the Manchester-headquartered retailer did not follow up its October profit warning with another one in January.

“Johnson reaffirmed his faith that the firm could meet the analysts’ consensus profit forecast of £57.5m,” Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said.