12th Dec 2019 09:18
(Alliance News) - Fashion chain Superdry PLC has moved into a loss, it reported on Thursday, as interim revenue dropped significantly as expected.
Superdry, on a post-IFRS16 basis, posted a pretax loss of GBP4.2 million for the six months to October 26, after a profit of GBP26.4 million the year prior.
On a pre-IFRS16 basis, underlying pretax profit was just GBP200,000, from GBP12.9 million the year before.
Superdry's revenue fell 11% to GBP369.1 million, which the company said reflects a year of "reset" as it fixes legacy issues. Store sales did improve on the second quarter on the first, it noted.
Superdry also said trading has been hit by the difficult conditions on the UK High Street as well as a move away from discounting.
Looking ahead, Superdry sees second-half revenue falling year-on-year in the low single digits, leading to a mid single digit fall in annual revenue. This second-half performance would be an improvement on the first half.
Superdry is to pay a 2.0 pence per share dividend for the half, significantly lower than the 9.3p it returned a year before.
"At this halfway point in our financial year, I am pleased with the progress we have made to comprehensively reset Superdry. We're doing this through our product and brand, our physical and digital retail operations and a renewed focus on the retailing basics. We are only eight months into a process that will take two to three years, but I have great confidence in the strength of our new executive leadership team," said Chief Executive Julian Dunkerton.
"I am also pleased with the trajectory of performance we have seen from the first quarter to the second quarter and subsequently into our peak trading period, which gave us our biggest online trading day ever. However, we remain cautious about the challenging market conditions over the peak trading period."
Dunkerton, who has extended his contract to April 2021, returned to the company he co-founded in April after narrowly winning a shareholder vote. He had initially resigned in 2018 after a collapse in the firm's share price following a string of profit warnings, which led to a drop from the FTSE 250.
Shares were down 4.7% on Thursday morning at 476.50p each. They are actually 36% higher over the past 12 months, but traded above 2,000p at the start of 2018.
By George Collard; [email protected]
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