Joules revenue up 18.4% in year to May 2018
Premium fashion and lifestyle brand Joules achieved an 18.4% rise in revenue to £185.9m in the year to 27 May 2018 as it continued its UK and international expansion.
Pre-tax profit was up 28.5% to £30m, which was ahead of initial expectations, while underlying EBITDA was up 24.4% to 21m. The business also increased its number of active customers by 23.4% to 1.13m and its gross margin was up 25 basis points to 55.7%.
Chief executive Colin Porter said: “It has been another strong year of growth for the Joules brand, with our continued expansion within the UK and international markets enabling the Group to a profit performance ahead of initial expectations. This performance is testament to the strength and appeal of the Joules brand, our unique product offer and our growing and loyal customer base. We have made excellent progress against our strategy of expanding the brand both at home and abroad, and the Board remains confident that this momentum will continue in FY19.”
The business, which is based in Market Harborough and was founded by Tom Joule 30 years ago, operates 123 stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland and has more than 1,500 stockists worldwide including John Lewis, Dillard’s, Next Label and Nordstrom. Its international sales now account for 13.1% of group revenue.
Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at www.cityindex.co.uk said the brand's strength was in its market positioning. "In this market, you've got to offer something cheap or something special and Joules fits snugly into the latter category. Its unique heritage designs have made it one of the more successful UK brands doing the rounds and it's developed a strong online offering to boot," she said.
"Profit for the year has comfortably met the company's recently-upgraded expectations and it's pleasing to see that margin expansion is still keeping pace with sales growth. It probably won't be possible for the premium lifestyle brand category to keep growing so rapidly forever: that segment of the market will inevitably mature. Investors wary of Joule's high market valuation will be looking for a chink in its armor. But so far there's been little to seriously dissuade enthusiasm for the company's stock," Cincotta added.
