FatFace’s sales improve after ‘tough’ early Christmas trading
Lifestyle clothing brand FatFace increased its total sales by 2% to £122 million in the 26 weeks to 1 December despite what it described as tough early Christmas trading
The retailer’s first half EBITDA rose by 4% to £15.5 million although full price like-for-like sales were flat year-on-year. Online sales increased by 6%.
International sales were up 59% to £8.7 million. FatFace now has 13 stores operating in the US and plans to open between four and six more in the country by the end of May.
FatFace said it experienced tough trading in the early weeks of the festive sales period, particularly in November. In addition, December sales were broadly flat year-on-year after in-store sales were down 6% and online sales rose by 16%. However, there was an improvement in sales in the final week before Christmas which continued through to the Boxing Day sale.
Anthony Thompson, chief executive of FatFace, said: “Christmas shopping patterns appear to be changing driven by Black Friday and growing consumer confidence in online delivery speed and availability. This resulted in an even later surge in December sales across our stores. A combination of our full price strategy, international growth and investment in ecommerce and logistics’ delivered for FatFace this Christmas”.
FatFace has also confirmed that Liz Evans will join the company as its new chief executive on 1 March. Since 2013, Evans has been leading the Oasis and Warehouse brands.
