Jan 14 (Reuters) - British fashion retailer Alexon Group Plc (AXN.L) said on Thursday 14 January it expected results for the year ended Jan. 30 to be slightly below market expectations, hurt by adverse weather conditions and lower gross margin.

Photo: www.alexon.co.uk

Overall like-for-like sales for the 23 weeks ended Jan. 9 fell 14.3 percent on the prior year.

The company said it continued to minimize excess stock ahead of the new season and increased promotional activity in the host department stores.

This will result in gross margin for the second half being 0.8 percentage points lower than last year, Alexon said in a statement.

"We believe the 2010 economic outlook will remain challenging, but we are actively pursuing a number of initiatives, including addressing our onerous property leases, in order to accelerate the group's turnaround plan," the company said.

Alexon shares closed at 38 pence on Wednesday 13 January on the London Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)