N Brown’s sales advanced in the golden quarter, during which it penned a new deal with online platform Zalando. 

The fashion group said its plus-size brand Simply Be was the star performer in the 18 weeks to January 6, with sales up 14.5%. 

Group sales rose 3.2% year on year, driven by a 9% surge in online revenue. 

Overall sales at its so-called power brands, including Simply Be, JD Williams and Jacamo, advanced 7.3%.

Meanwhile, sales at its secondary brands — Fashion World and Figleaves — declined 8.4%.

Group chief executive Angela Spindler hailed it “another record-breaking Christmas”, but flagged intense competition in the market. 

“The fashion market remains competitive and we invested in promotional activity across our brands and product categories, which successfully delivered market share gains,” she said. 

The retailer’s new deal with European fashion platform Zalando to sell Simply Be and Jacamo adds to N Brown’s growing collection of trading partners, including Amazon Fashion. 

It said joining forces with other operators is one of its “key future growth levers”. 

The group’s full-year profit expectations remain unchanged; however, Spindler reaffirmed that “the shape of [the] results would be different than previously anticipated”, as reflected in the retailer’s previously revised guidance.