French Connection just dropped a sales outlook bombshell

High street fashion retailer French Connection just revealed that trading was so bad in the first half of the year that sales will be "materially lower than expected."

It also said in a regulatory statement that it will have to close down a number of stores to save cash.

Here is the full statement (emphasis ours):

"The challenging conditions in our Retail trading reported at the year end have continued through the completion of the Easter period. H1 retail sales performance is now forecast to be materially lower than expected.

"Wholesale performance is in line with expectations, with forward orders up year on year. Licensing continues to perform strongly.

"The financial performance for the year is now expected to be below the current market expectations. Cash is currently £9.9m (2014: £12.0m) with no debt and stock levels at the end of March were 7% lower than the prior year.

"We have been putting in place many improvements across the business in the last two years and will continue to implement positive change across the Group. We continue to execute our store closure plan and we now expect to close 7 stores during the current year."

French Connection shares have plunged by over 30% within the last year over years of under performing sales: