JoJo Maman Bébé bucks High Street trends

The maternity and babywear brand JoJo Maman Bébé favoured by the Duchess of Cambridge on Friday defied the gloom on the High Street.

The retailer, set up by Laura Tenison as a mail-order catalogue firm 25 years ago, posted a 20% jump in revenues to £57.5 million and pre-tax profits reached £3.9 million for the year to June 30, 2017. Same-store UK sales rose by 3.2%, accounts filed at Companies House showed. The company, which sells in 46 countries, will open its first U.S. shops this spring, denting profits by £500,000.

A greater number of shoppers are now buying online, the retailer added, accounting for a third of its revenues. Online sales were up 39.8% on last year to £18.2 million.

Tenison, who runs the business, brought in ex-Jaeger trading boss Gwynn Milligan as a commercial director in May to help double revenues in the next few years and expand overseas more aggressively. Milligan was previously a commercial director at retailers Reiss and JD Sports and also worked for Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia and online fashion website Asos.