French Connection losses grow as spring fashions underwhelm

* FY 2015 underlying operating loss 4.7 mln stg

* Co cites "poor performance" of spring, summer collections

* Co brings back FCUK logo, makes two appointments

* Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) slump as much as 11.7 pct (Adds details, comments, updates share price)

By Aastha Agnihotri

March 15 (Reuters) - French Connection Group Plc reported a bigger full-year loss after its spring and summer collections failed to capture the imagination of shoppers in a fiercely competitive UK fashion market.

The company's shares fell as much as 11.7 percent on Tuesday to their lowest in more than two months.

More than three years into a turnaround plan, French Connection has struggled to restore its ebbing popularity on Britain's high streets. The company attributed its bigger 2015 loss to "poor performance" in the first half of the year.

"Customers weren't liking what they were seeing," Neil Williams, French Connection (LSE: FCCN.L - news) 's operations director, told Reuters. "Fundamentally, the poor performance of Spring 15 was all down to the collection."

The company has since made changes to its in-house team of designers, a spokesman said. This year's spring collection includes T-shirts bearing the FCUK logo that was a huge hit for the company in the 1990s.

The company also announced the appointment of two fashion industry veterans. Lee Williams will join on April 4 as finance director from online fashion retailer ASOS Plc (LSE: ASC.L - news) .

Christos Angelides, who has spent most of his career at Next (EUREX: NXTI.EX - news) Plc, was appointed an independent non-executive director nearly three months after U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . teen apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co terminated his employment without cause. (http://bit.ly/1QUfAaF)

Like their U.S. counterparts, established fashion retailers in Britain are adjusting to the changing habits of thrifty shoppers, who increasingly favour Internet shopping and cheaper "fast fashion" chains.

French Connection's underlying operating loss widened to 4.7 million pounds ($6.7 million) for the year ended Jan. 31 from 0.8 million pounds a year earlier.

Revenue fell 8 percent to 164.2 million pounds.

"The turnaround plan wasn't aggressive enough and the product ranges haven't been right," said Freddie George, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.

French Connection shut 13 stores in the financial year, in addition to the dozens already closed as part of its turnaround programme. To preserve cash for that programme, the company said it would not recommend a dividend.

Having recovered some of their earlier losses, French Connection's shares were down 4.0 percent at 43.11 pence at 1230 GMT. ($1 = 0.7020 pounds) (Reporting by Aastha Agnihotri in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Subrat Patnaik; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Robin Paxton)