French Clothing Industry Better Than Britain's   

French clothing manufacturers are performing far better than counterparts in the UK.  On average, French clothing firms are stronger financially, with essentially less debt giving them an edge. Market is also expanding faster in France than Britain, with average sales growth standing at 7.3 % compared to 0.8% across The Channel.

For some years now the UK market has shown very little growth. Any growth by individual companies has been at the expense of others. This has been feeding intense competition and fuelling reduced margins.

The resulting problem is that UK companies have been forced to finance capital and losses to fight the competition. Where as the French market is booming, levels of debt are well below that of a UK company and the level of profitability is excellent. The French seem to be able to finance growth out of normal cash flow.

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