Superdry sales drop in third quarter
Superdry saw its group revenue fall by 1.5% to £269.3 million in its third quarter after it experienced “subdued” store and online sales.
The retailer said the decline in sales in the 13 weeks to 26 January was driven by ongoing legacy product issues and unseasonably warm weather, which meant that fewer shoppers bought its jackets and coats. Store revenue dropped by 8.5% in the period while ecommerce sales fell by 0.7%.
Meanwhile, global brand revenue rose by 5.4% to £479.6 million, with the increase being mainly due to a strong wholesale performance.
Euan Sutherland, Superdry chief executive, said: “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.“
Superdry is currently working through a transformation programme as it looks to diversify its product range. The retailer said the first results of this will be seen in the autumn/winter collection for 2019 and in the launch of its kidswear collection.
It is also planning to deliver over £50 million gross cost savings by 2022 financial year.
Sutherland added: “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.”
During the period Superdry bolstered its executive team by appointing Phil Dickinson as creative director and Lucy Maitland-Walker as merchandising director.
