FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
Strong trading performance with Group revenue up 22.3% to £254.7m (1H15: £208.2m)
Retail revenue up 30.8% to £172.1m (1H15: £131.6m)
Retail like-for-like1 sales up 17.2% (1H15: -4.1%)
Online participation of retail sales increased to 19.2% (1H15: 13.9%)
Wholesale revenue increased by 7.8% to £82.6m (1H15: £76.6m)
Underlying Group gross margin up 110bps to 60.1% (1H15: 59.0%)
Underlying profit before tax up 54.4% to £19.3m (1H15: £12.5m)
Underlying profit before tax, excluding North America, up 73.6% to £21.7m (1H15: £12.5m)
Underlying basic earnings per share 20.0p (1H15: 11.9p)
Reported basic earnings per share 10.2p3 (1H15: 17.2p)
Strong net cash4 position at the period end of £80.0m (1H15: £66.6m)
STRATEGIC PROGRESS
14 net new owned stores opened adding 63k sq. ft. or 9% of trading space since year-end
23 new international franchised and licensed stores taking the total to 244 stores
Ongoing product innovation centred on Womenswear and successful launch of premium Idris Elba collection
Effective combination of store and e-commerce stock into one inventory file, improving e-commerce product availability
Turnaround of US business continuing and establishment of China JV progressing
Euan Sutherland, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"SuperGroup has made good progress in realising its strategic objectives in the first half and has delivered profitable growth, while continuing to invest in the business. Central to this is the ongoing process to get ever closer to our customers who clearly appreciate the product innovation that is widening the Superdry offer.
"With a successful first half completed, the business is well placed for the significant peak trading period. Whilst comparatives in the second half are more challenging, the development of Superdry into a global lifestyle brand is proceeding with pace and this, together with the strength of our product offer and increasing efficiency, will enable us to deliver long-term sustainable growth."
