Fashion retailer French Connection Group plc warned of a larger-than-expected loss as Christmas sales were hurt by lower demand and a decision to delay discounting.

Shares in the British retailer, famous for its FCUK brand of clothes and accessories, fell 17 per cent to 24.48p yesterday on the London Stock Exchange.

“It now looks likely that it will be at least two years before results break even,” Seymour Pierce analyst Kate Calvert said in a research note.

“There must now be question marks over the company’s strategy, which was unveiled in September,” Calvert added.

French Connection said it expected an adjusted pre-tax loss of £7.5 million to £8 million for the year ending January 31, much larger than the £5.47 million analysts were expecting, according to Thomson Reuters.

French Connection, whose brand value is waning, is also battling aggressive discounting from online retailers in the United Kingdom and had previously forecast a loss for the year.

It reported a pre-tax profit of £5 million last year. French Connection chalked out a strategy in September to boost sales that included selling loss-making stores, efforts to protect margins and improve its product offering. The company said sales in its retail business in the UK and Europe softened in the run-up to Christmas. Like-for-like sales in this business fell about 2.9 per cent in the 24 weeks to January 12. Retail business from the UK and Europe comprises roughly half of the company’s total revenue.

The retailer said it delayed discounting during the Christmas period by a week in an attempt to build brand equity. A fall of 1.9 per cent in like-for-like sales was directly as a result of the delay in discounting, the company said.

While the delay hurt sales it did help margins in the fourth quarter, Numis Securities analyst Andrew Wade said.

The company will report full-year results on March 13.