- Huw Hughes
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Superdry has swung to a 4.2 million pound loss, down from a 26.4 million
profit this time last year, in what the company described as a “year of
reset”.
Underlying profit for the six months to October 26 dropped 98.4 percent
to just 200,000 pounds, while revenue dropped 11 percent to 369.1 million
pounds compared to last year, which the company said “reflects an expected
year of reset, as we address a number of legacy issues across the
business.”
The company’s debt pile grew to 9.3 million pounds compared to a cash
position of 19.2 million pounds in 2018.
But these results were not unexpected as the company moves forward with its
turnaround strategy.
This marks a tumultuous year for the British brand in which the Julian
Dunkerton narrowly won a vote by shareholders to return to the helm of the
company he founded. The move resulted in the majority of the company’s
board leaving, including then-CEO Euan Sutherland, chairman Peter Bamford,
chief financial officer Ed Barker, and chairman of the remuneration
committee Penny Hughes.
Dunkerton remains positive about Superdry turnaround strategy
Since taking back control of his company, Dunkerton has remained positive
that his new strategy will bear fruit. Commenting on the latest results in
a statement, he said: “At this halfway point in our financial year, I am
pleased with the progress we have made to comprehensively reset Superdry.
We’re doing this through our product and brand, our physical and digital
retail operations and a renewed focus on the retailing basics. We are only
eight months into a process that will take two to three years, but I have
great confidence in the strength of our new executive leadership team.
“I am also pleased with the trajectory of performance we have seen from
Q1 to Q2 and subsequently into our peak trading period, which gave us our
biggest online trading day ever. However, we remain cautious about the
challenging market conditions over the peak trading period”.
Looking forward, Dunkerton said his priority is to “steady the business”
and “return the culture” to the once booming brand.
Photo credit: Superdry, Facebook
