Dress-down suits Austin Reed

REPORTS of the death of the suit were greatly exaggerated - but so too are today's tales of the demise of dress-down, according to fashion group Austin Reed. After being battered by the dress-down trend, sales of suits at Austin Reed began recovering last November, said chief executive Roger Jennings.

But there has been no corresponding fall in casualwear and Jennings believes both have become staple parts of the working wardrobe.

So while sales of the group's new 'reed' smart/casual range surged by 26% last year and now account for more than a quarter of menswear turnover, sales of the traditional suit also ended their long decline, resulting in a 3% like-for-like increase for Austin Reed's menswear division.

This was despite a disappointing performance from the womenswear side, which Jennings said moved too far away from its traditional tailoring towards to occasion and casualwear.

Elsewhere in women's fashion, the Country Casuals business turned in another strong performance, pushing like-for-like sales ahead by 11% on the back of the new Petites range.

Womenswear accounts for about 60% of Austin Reed's business and helped the group push profits ahead by 21% to £8.m, as sales for the year to 31 January rose by 6% to £116.2m. The dividend total is raised by 3% to 8p.