Group revenue dips at Superdry, but "brand revenue up" says company

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Nicky Godding

Superdry PLC has reported a fall in third quarter revenue, as it has been impacted by subdued store and ecommerce sales driven by ongoing legacy product issues and continued unseasonably warm weather throughout the quarter.

For the 13 weeks to January 26, the high street fashion retailer reported revenue of £269.3 million, down 1.5% from £273.3 million in the comparative period a year ago.

E-commerce sales dipped 0.7% to £69.0 million from £69.5 million, while Store sales dropped 8.5% to £126.8 million from £138.6 million. This was partially mitigated by a strong performance in wholesale sales, up 13% year-on-year to £73.5 million from £65.2 million.

Meanwhile, Global Brand revenue, an adjusted performance metric which represents the equivalent value of group revenue at the values paid by consumers, increased 5.4% to £479.6 million from £454.9 million.

Chief Executive Officer Euan Sutherland said: "Superdry's performance has remained subdued during quarter three. We continued to be impacted by the ongoing product mix and relevance issues we have previously highlighted and by the lack, until the end of quarter three and the start of quarter four, of any prolonged period of cold weather in our key markets."

He added: "We are pleased with the early progress being made with our transformation programme, designed to reset the business and deliver a return to higher levels of growth and profitability."

The retailer said it intensified its transformation programme in light of the challenges faced. It plans to deliver GBP50 million of cost savings by 2020.

The programme includes product diversification, shifting away from winter clothing and jackets, and the development of new Wholesale and franchise partnerships.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.