The new management of luxury jeweller retailer Theo Fennell are confident they can take the retailer “back to basics” after suffering a loss of £3.3m.

A combination of “unwise” management decisions and difficult trading contributed to its woes as turnover fell to £21.8m in the year to March 31 from £28m the previous year.

Chief executive Barbara Snoad said that concentrating on design and quality it could be an “even stronger business” on the other side of the recession.

House broker Seymour Pierce analyst Freddie George said: “The stock has almost doubled since the recent appointments and changes in the shareholding structure since the end of June but is still undervalued on a longer-term basis. It has a strong brand, which has the potential to be exploited internationally – when the markets start to recover.”