N Brown posts smaller-than-expected fall in profit

* FY pretax profit down 13.4 pct to 86.2 mln stg

* Reiterates outlook for FY15/16

* Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) rise as much as 5 pct (Adds details, CEO comments, share price)

By Aastha Agnihotri

April 29 (Reuters) - Plus-size fashion retailer N Brown (LSE: BWNG.L - news) Group Plc's full-year profit fell a little less than expected as weak sales in autumn was partially offset by higher demand for its Jacamo and Simply Be brands.

Shares in N Brown, which had issued two profit warnings for the year, rose as much as 5 percent on the London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) after the news.

"The shares have underperformed the general retail sector by 14.7 percent in the last three months due to the lowered profit expectations...," analyst Mike Dennis of Cantor Fitzgerald wrote in a note.

British retailers faced a tough 2014 partly due to a mild autumn that hit sales of winter fashions. Muted wage growth in Britain also forced consumers to keep spending under control.

N Brown, which targets older and larger shoppers mainly through its online and catalogue stores, reported a 11 percent and 1.4 percent rise in Jacamo and Simply Be brand sales, respectively.

The company said on Wednesday it was confident of its full-year outlook, but did not provide any specific forecasts on its spring/summer collection.

"We are not giving an update on spring/summer but we are certainly in line with our expectations as the warm weather helped," Chief Executive Angela Spindler told Reuters.

N Brown said adjusted pretax profit fell 13.4 percent to 86.2 million pounds ($132.67 million) for the 52 weeks ended Feb. 28. Analysts, on average, were expecting profit of 85.4 million pounds, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue was nearly flat at 818 million pounds.

The company, which targets older and larger shoppers mainly through its online and catalogue stores, also said it plans to increase the number of stores in the UK to 25 from 15.

Online sales now represent 59 percent of N Brown's home shopping sales compared with 58 percent last year.

Manchester, northern England-based company is being revamped by Spindler, who succeeded Alan White as CEO in 2013.

She has, so far, reduced N Brown's range of low-margin electrical items, introduced a cash payment option for customers, and relaunched its biggest brand - JD Williams.

N Brown maintained its final dividend at 8.56 pence for the year.

Shares in the company were up 4.2 percent at 335.4 pence at 1030 GMT. The stock has lost 17 percent of their value since the beginning of the year.

($1 = 0.6517 pounds) (Reporting by Aastha Agnihotri in Bengaluru; Editing by Anand Basu and Tresa Sherin Morera)