Dunkerton to call crunch shareholders' meeting at Superdry within weeks

Superdry co-founder Julian Dunkerton is reported to be planning to call a shareholders' meeting within the next four weeks at which he will demand his reinstatement to the firm at a senior level.

Dunkerton, who owns around 18% of the business he co-founded with James Holder, stood down in March of last year ostensibly to focus on other business and charitable interests.

However following faltering profits and a slump in the brand's share price, he broke cover last autumn to launch a campaign to demand his reinstatement, and is now seeking to bring matters to a head in the coming weeks.

Just before Christmas the brand revealed that underlying profit before tax had fallen 49% to £12.9m in the 26 weeks to 27 October and that it expected profits in the current financial year to be somewhere between £55m and £70m. Analysts had predicted around £84m. In the past year around 75% has been eroded from its share price.

Dunkerton had reportedly appointed a PR company to manage his campaign and he has made numerous media appearances; his criticisms of the brand's strategy were also quoted in an analyst's report by broker Liberum on the company.

He founded the business with Holder 15 years ago (it was born from his previous business Cult Clothing) and the pair grew it into a global, publicly listed brand. In 2014 Dunkerton stood aside from the CEO role to hand the reins to Euan Sutherland and to focus on product.

Dunkerton blames Sutherland for the lack-lustre product that has led to the profits slump and has criticised the brand's strategy to reduce the number of lines it sells, as well as introduce childrenswear. The board of Superdry, chaired by Peter Bamford, has rebuffed Dunkerton's bid to be reinstated and rejected criticism of its strategy.

However, according to The Sunday Times, Dunkerton has complained that towards the end of his tenure he was "being systematically cut out of the design process" and accused the management of lying to shareholders. One top 10 shareholder quoted by the newspaper said, despite his sustained efforts, Dunkerton was “struggling to sell his story” to shareholders.