Matalan revenue growth dented by ‘awful’ weather and political uncertainty
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Fashion retailer Matalan saw its total revenue increase to £292m in the Q2 2019, despite the weather and political and economic uncertainty “eroding the full price sales potential of the season”.
It said that during the 14 weeks ended 31 August 2019, ongoing uncertainty “weighed heavily” on consumer confidence and spending, which resulted in a “significant” margin investment being required to sell through surplus stocks.
In July the retailer outlined the challenges that Matalan and the wider market faced, in what it said has been an “extremely tough trading environment”.
Matalan also reported EBITDA of £42.8m during the period,
Jason Hargreaves, chief executive officer of Matalan, said: “Despite current trading conditions, we are making good progress in a number of strategic areas. These include opening fantastic new stores, refurbishing our existing estate, and improving the customer journey in our online channel which delivered underlying growth of over 25%.”
He added: “We expect the autumn/winter season to remain challenging and are focussed on balancing the delivery of growth opportunities against the need to effectively manage stock risk and profitability.
“We will continue to be responsive to current trading conditions and remain confident in the longer term direction and progress the business is making.”
