Superdry swings to half-year loss in 'year of reset'

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.

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