MARKET REPORT: Fast fashion brings top marks for Quiz as sales soar

Quiz rocketed as it said it is banking on women buying summer outfits, cocktail dresses and strappy heels to turbocharge sales in the coming few weeks.

The fast fashion retailer shot to the top of the AIM leaderboard after it made £17million in the first quarter to June.

This was £13million higher than the same three months last year, when the UK was in its strictest lockdown. 

Sales boost: Fast fashion retailer Quiz is banking on women buying summer outfits, cocktail dresses and strappy heels to turbocharge sales in the coming few weeks 

The company – which sells clothes online and in 261 UK stores – is likely to see a flood of orders for the types of outfits that can be worn to weddings, clubs, music festivals and fancy soirees once England reaches Freedom Day next Monday.

The figures came despite being knocked by Quiz no longer selling its clothes on the Debenhams website. 

Sophie Lund-Yates, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘It’s fair to say it’s going to be party time for both Quiz’s customers and the company itself now that we’ll soon be allowed to get off our sofas and go out again.

Stock Watch – Distil 

Investors raised a glass to a 10 per cent surge in revenues at Distil, which makes Red Leg Spiced Rum and Blackwoods Gin.

The AIM-listed company said the jump in the three months to June was especially impressive when compared with the same quarter of last year – when it saw a 21 per cent surge in sales as customers stockpiled booze to get through the coronavirus lockdowns.

Distil has benefited from the reopening of pubs and restaurants and said trade was doing well in almost all areas apart from airports, as international travel is still muted.

Shares in the group rose 4.4 per cent, or 0.1p, to 2.4p.

‘It means people will be buying the clothes Quiz is geared towards. Today’s update was also a pleasant surprise because managing to meet expectations is quite a big deal in the current climate – the market is expecting every clothing retailer to be pedalling really hard.’

Quiz, which was founded in 1993, also has a healthy war chest of cash to see it through the summer – with a £3.5million credit line that it plans to renew on October 31.

Shareholders were delighted by the prospect of a bumper summer, sending Quiz’s stock up 17.8 per cent, or 1.74p, to 11.5p by the close.

Insurer Admiral also started the week on the front foot after it said it expects a jump in profits.

Lockdowns and new Covid restrictions forced drivers to stay at home and off the roads in the first six months of the year, leading to a plunge in motor claims.

The insurer said the ‘unusually positive development’ means profits will be between £450million to £500million for the first six months of the year – almost double the £286million it made in 2020 – even though it has also slashed premiums for customers over the past year.

Although the effects are likely to wear off soon, investors can rest in the knowledge that Admiral is planning to hand them £400million after the sale of its comparison website business to Uswitch.

Admiral shares rose 3.9 per cent, or 123p, to 3244p.

It was a choppier day on the wider market. After spending much of the day in the doldrums the FTSE 100 managed to eke out a miniscule rise by the end of the session – edging up 0.05 per cent, or 3.54p, to 7125.42p.

But few of the ‘reopening stocks’ – such as airlines and hotels that in theory will benefit the most from life returning virtually to normal – made gains. 

Staycations might be set to boom, but British Airways-owner IAG (down 4.2 per cent, or 7.84p, to 177p), Premier Inn-owner Whitbread (down 3.1 per cent, or 98p, to 3038p) and Easyjet (down 3.6 per cent, or 33.8p, to 899.6p) all lost out as the rapid spread of the Delta variant across the world put the chances of Britons going on foreign holidays under even greater threat, despite there being an extensive ‘green’ list of countries they can safely travel to.

Online gambling giant Flutter Entertainment has agreed to sell Oddschecker Global Media to private equity firm Bruin Capital, valuing the marketing subsidiary at up to £155million. 

Oddschecker allows users to compare odds between sites such as Bet 365 and William Hill. Shares fell 2.1 per cent, or 275p, to 12630p.

On the FTSE 250 (down 0.06 per cent, or 13.46 points, to 22,895.86), Cineworld hit the bottom of the leaderboard, falling 5.8 per cent, or 4.52p, to 73.5p, as ministers advised people to keep wearing masks in crowded indoor places. 

This is expected to include cinemas and could put some people off going.