Fashion retailer Quiz faces challenging time in gloomy high street

THE UK’s fast fashion online retailer Quiz is facing tough time amid gloomy outlook in high street.

​The company’s online sales were seen to be growing since the end of March. However, the number of buyers who visit its high street shops has come down.

In its latest trading update, the Tarak Ramzan-founded firm said that sales during the past few months had been in line with 2018.

Founded in Glasgow, the retailer is planning to reduce cost by £3 million, which includes reducing the number of stores and concessions in the near future.

The company has already announced plans to close 20 concessions and may shut more.

Quiz runs over 70 shops and 170 department store concessions in the UK and has a network of directly owned and franchised global outlets.

The fashion business employs more than 1,500 people in the UK and Ireland alone.

Quiz suspended dividend payments for the year to the end of March in 2019 as it witnessed pre-tax profit fall to £216,000, compared with £8.5 million in the prior year.

Founded in 1993, the company recorded a fall in profit in spite of its revenue climbing 12 per cent to £130.9m.

Quiz was floated on London’s junior Aim exchange in 2017 with shares priced at 161p.

Quiz chairman Peter Cowgill was quoted by The Times: “…Consistent with the widely reported conditions on the UK high street, the business has experienced a reduction in store footfall during the period compared to the previous year when the group experienced a particularly strong demand.”

The company has a positive outlook for its business in the future but stated it does not expect any quick progress in business. It added the board was confident of returning to profitable growth over the medium-term.