Clothing chain French Connection struggling to resuscitate a flagging image, said today it was cutting its full-year results forecasts by an unspecified amount as sales continue to slide.
The news, marking the latest chapter in a saga of drooping sales and profit warnings, sent the shares nearly 5 per cent lower in early trade.
French Connection, which in March announced that full-year profits had more than halved to £15.7 million on what it said was weakness in its designs, did not guide the market towards a profit range for the current financial year.
In the UK/Europe region, like-for-like retail sales were down 2 per cent since the beginning of the new financial year, while in wholesale the forward order book for the winter 2006 ranges was 12 per cent below the level achieved last year.
European wholesale orders account for almost one-third of group sales.
"There is little indication at the moment that the market conditions or our trading performance will change, and while ... we are only a short way into the year, we are materially reducing our expectation for the full-year results," chief executive Stephen Marks said in a statement.
Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates prior to Wednesday's news put the average forecast at 12.4 million pounds.
A protracted cold snap going into the important spring season has hit fashion chains such as French Connection, New Look and Next, while department stores such as Marks & Spencer and Debenhams have proven more resilient.
Many analysts have pointed to weakness in some of French Connection's ranges, while the increasingly tired FCUK brand is being toned down in advertising, in stores and on labels.
Shares in French Connection stood 4.6 per cent lower at 210p by 9 am, valuing the company around £200 million.
The FCUK campaign courted controversy from its launch in 1997 - inspiring slogans such as "FCUK fashion" - but it helped to transform the company into one of the country's top fashion success stories.
The company aims at the upper end of the middle market, selling fashions to the 18-35 year age group. In addition to the main brand, French Connection sells clothes under the Nicole Farhi, Toast and Great Plains brands.