Wholesale lifts Superdry global brand revenue despite store performance dip

Global brand revenue at Superdry was up 5.4% to £479.6m year on year for the 13 weeks to 26 January 2019, driven by a strong wholesale performance in the quarter.

Despite wholesale revenue being up 12.7% to £73.5m – driven by forward order despatches with continued strong full price growth in the US – group revenue was down 1.5% year on year, impacted by subdued store and e-commerce sales. Store sales dropped by 8.5% to £126.8m from £138.6m in quarter three 2018, while e-commerce sales dipped 0.7% to £69m.

Superdry CEO, Euan Sutherland, commented: “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.

“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 trading update also says Superdry’s diversification and innovation programme, launched in summer 2018, has continued at pace. The early results of the programme will be seen with the AW19 collection, and the launch of childrenswear.

Market expectations for the financial year ending 27 April 2019 are best defined by taking the range of forecasts published by analysts who consistently follow the company.  The consensus of underlying profit before tax forecasts as at 4 February 2019 is £58.4m, with a range of £54.3m to £63m.