Shares in fashion chain French Connection dived by 25 per cent this morning as the company issued a profit warning.
The company said annual profit was likely to be down 15 per cent on last year's £38.7 million (€55.2 million) and said sales had fallen 18 per cent since August, with its late autumn collection failing to stem the decline.
The company's shares had fallen 23.6 per cent to 233p by 8:35 a.m. after earlier slumping to 223p, an 18-month low.
French Connection repeated it would not drop its much-criticised FCUK brand. The company, which in the summer blamed sluggish sales on poor weather, said it was untrendy designs, not the irreverent FCUK logo, that was to blame for its troubles.
"We don't fundamentally think this is an FCUK brand thing. We are more concerned that the autumn collection wasn't fashion forward enough," chief operating officer Mr Neil Williams told journalists on a conference call.
"The initial customer response to the last major instalment of the autumn collections has not improved the trading performance," he said, adding this led the board to believe the results would be significantly below market expectations.
In July, fashion retail bible the Drapers Recordquoted a stockist as saying the FCUK brand looked "tired and tacky". Media reports later said the company was scaling back the brand.