// Superdry sales drop 16% in the 10 weeks to January 4
// The fashion retailer blamed its old products
// Superdry now expects pre-tax profit to hit between £0-£10m for the full financial year
Superdry has issued a profit warning after its sales dropped during the key Christmas trading period.
Despite a strong Black Friday, the crucial festive period was tough, said the fashion retailer, which is attempting to charter a new course after a boardroom battle which saw the former management team replaced.
Chief executive and founder Julian Dunkerton said his return to the Superdry board would bring “sustainable long-term growth”.
READ MORE: “Year of reset” brings £4.2m half-year loss for Superdry
The retailer blamed its old products on the 16 per cent sales drop in the 10 weeks to January 4, as its new lines were not enough to avoid a downgrade to profit.
Superdry now expects pre-tax profit to hit between £0 and £10 million for the full financial year, ending April.
“We have been encouraged by initial customer reaction to the limited amounts of the new management team’s autumn/winter 2019 stock,” the retailer said in a statement.
“However, this has not been sufficient to offset weaker trading on older product.”
Dunkerton said: “Everyone at Superdry continues to work intensively to deliver the turnaround of the business.
“While we have always said it will take time, we continue to make progress in implementing our strategy.
“A key element of this is to focus on and return to full price sales and reduce promotional activity, and we halved the proportion of discounted sales over our peak trading period, benefiting both our margins and the Superdry brand.
“However, this adversely affected our sales during the peak trading period given the level of promotional activity in the market.”
To add to Superdry’s woes, in December, the retailer saw its year-on-year underlying profits fall 98.4 per cent in the 26 weeks to October 26, coming in at just £200,000.
This meant Superdry swung to a loss before tax of £4.2 million, down from achieving a profit of £26.4 million the year before.
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