N Brown shares jump on 'better-than-feared' first quarter

(Reuters) - N Brown Group Plc (BWNG.L) shares bounced well clear of six-year lows on Thursday after a "better-than-feared" first quarter from the British plus-size fashion retailer.

N Brown, which has been transforming itself from an under-pressure catalogue retailer to an online company, said product revenue fell 1.6 percent in the quarter ended May 28 - considerably less than at least five brokers expected.

The company, which issued two profit warnings last year, said its guidance for the full-year remained unchanged as it posted a 6 percent rise in online revenue.

"N Brown has reported a better-than-feared 1Q update suggesting an improving run rate in product revenues towards the end of the quarter given the volatile clothing market," Citi analyst Assad M Malic wrote in a note.

N Brown had said in April that trading in the new financial year had been subdued, hurt by lower demand for spring and summer clothing due to bad weather and as fears over the UK voting to leave the European Union influenced consumer spend.

Its shares have been the poorest performers across the FTSE midcap index (.FTMC) over the last three months, down 41 percent, pressured along with other UK consumer cyclicals that are widely seen as most exposed to Brexit and ensuing GDP shock.

"The lasting takeaway here, we think, is that through the transformation programme, BWNG (N Brown Group) is gaining flexibility to trade through tough markets," Jefferies analyst Joe Spooner wrote in a note for clients.

N Brown's shares were up 7 percent by 0845 GMT, the second-top gainer on the FTSE 250 index, and seeing their biggest one-day rise since late January.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru and Tricia Wright in London; Editing by Sunil Nair)