Superdry profits slump in half-year results

Superdry saw underlying profits tumble to £200,000 in the six months to 26 October 2019, down from £12.9m recorded during the same period last year.

The fashion retailer also saw revenues drop by 11% to £369m, which reflects “an expected year of reset” for the fashion retailer, who claims it has had to address “legacy issues” throughout the business. 

Statutory profits also slumped to a loss of £4.2m before tax, while net debt grew to £9.3m from a cash position of £19.2m recorded in 2018. 

While sales were in decline for the first half of the year, the retailer said the rate of decline slowed as “key initiatives” were implemented between the first and second quarter.

It also said there was an “encouraging” start to the third quarter, with record high online sales during Black Friday. The company now says it looks forward to the “substantial amount of peak trading period still to come in the year”.

The company has also set its focus on “progress in strengthening and stabilising our leadership team, securing key executives on permanent contracts, and promoting talent from within”.

Julian Dunkerton, founder and chief executive officer, said: “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.”

He added: “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. 

“I am also pleased with the trajectory of performance we have seen from Q1 to Q2 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.”