Superdry has enjoyed a healthy Christmas trading season and booked strong figures in its interim report, all of which were bolstered by double-digit online sales growth.
For the festive season covering 10 weeks to January 6, the fashion chain and wholesaler said like-for-like retail sales climbed 4.7 per cent while group revenue of £215.6 million was 12.6 per cent higher than the prior year.
Meanwhile, Superdry’s global brand revenue increased by 13.6 per cent year-on-year to £314.4 million.
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The British company said its overall Christmas performance had come up against “stretching comparatives” and was supported by strong sales growth in ecommerce and wholesale at 30.5 per cent and 20.4 per cent respectively.
Retail stores, which saw average trading space increase by 13.9 per cent for the period, also delivered sales growth of 3.1 per cent.
The Christmas update was delivered simultaneously with Superdry’s interim report for the half-year period ending October 28, which revealed £25.3 million in underlying profit before income tax – 20.5 per cent year-on-year uptick.
However, reported profit before income tax plummeted by 28.3 per cent year-on-year to £9.1 million, prompting Superdry shares to fall three per cent lower on the second tier of the London stock market.
Despite this, as revealed in its preliminary results in November and published again in today’s interim report, Superdry’s half-year group revenue went up 20.4 per cent to £402 million – thanks to a £12 million boost from a favourable currency translation and the launch of 15 new stores worldwide.
Its retail division saw a sales increase of 12.8 per cent to £242.7 million, but like-for-like growth slowed to 6.3 percent compared to the 12.8 per cent growth recorded in the same period the year before.
Ecommerce revenue grew 31.6 per cent, while Superdry in-store revenue of £181.5 million was up 7.6 per cent year-on-year.
Chief executive Euan Sutherland said today’s results reflected the continued consumer move online, which was at the heart of Superdry’s Global Digital Brand strategy and demanded greater focus and innovation of in-store customer experience.
“We have delivered another strong performance demonstrating the unique advantages and attractiveness of Superdry and its relevance to customers around the globe,” he said.
“Our growth through our eight channels to market has further diversified the brand, both geographically and across channels, while continued innovation has further widened our product offer.
“Our focus is on executing against the growth opportunities we have identified. We have a clear brand positioning, an innovative approach to digital marketing, a disruptive multi-channel approach and a growing culture of operational excellence.
“Having traded through our peak trading period, the board remains confident in delivering full year underlying profit before income tax in line with the range of analyst expectations and in the quality of the sustainable financial performance we can deliver.”
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