Moss Bros hurt by stock shortages

MOSS Bros has posted a 6.1pc fall in profits to £6.7m for the year.

The suit maker – which has issued two profit warnings since January – said supplier woes and stock shortages had been hampering trading since the end of last year, leaving sales 6.7pc lower for the first eight weeks of the new year.

Hire sales also remain under pressure, down 4.9pc in recent trading.

The group sparked a shares crash last week after its latest profit warning saw it reveal that the result for the year to January 2019 would be ‘materially lower’ than expected. It also slashed its fullyear dividend by 32pc to 4p per share.

Shares fell 3.2pc, or 1.5p, to 45.25p yesterday after its 201718 results offered little cheer, adding to a bleak start to the year for the retail sector amid a raft of rescue deals and the highprofile failures of Toys R Us and Maplin.

Brian Brick, Moss Bros chief executive, admitted that the chain’s trading troubles were in part ‘selfinflicted’ as the mistakes over changes to suppliers compounded wider troubles on the High Street.