- Angela Gonzalez-Rodriguez
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New York – The South African apparel retailer Truworths International
Ltd has issued a reviewed earnings forecast, lowering its core earnings.
The fashion group took a 97 million pound impairment charge related to
its Office shoe chain in Britain, as explained in a corporate announcement
echoed by Reuters.
The publicly traded company (South African-listed) said full-year core
headline earnings per share were expected to fall between 7 percent and 9
percent to between 558 cents and 570 cents.
On the upside, the apparel group also said its retail sales increased by
3.7 percent to 18.6 billion rand for the 52-week period ended June, 30.
Truworths blamed this weaker forecast on a tough trading environment in
the UK due to Brexit-driven uncertainty, as well as on pressures on
store-based retailing as shoppers move online had hit the profitability of
the Office business.
On the latter, it’s worth recalling that Truworths announced last month
that Office had entered into debt restructuring talks with its lenders. The
company said trading space for its Office division decreased 5.2 percent
mainly due to the closure of some House of Fraser concession stores.
