Superdry sees losses as wholesale sales decline
Clothing retailer Superdry has revealed an adjusted loss before tax of £13.6m for the first half of its 2023 financial year, as wholesale sales fell.
In the 26 weeks to October 29 2022, wholesale sales at the retailer declined by 5.2%, which Superdry said was due to a lagged recovery after COVID and shipment timing.
Despite this, the retailer said brand recovery was back on track, with a 14.3% increase in store revenue to £117.7m as more customers returned to high street shopping.
Superdry added that demand strengthened over the Christmas period, with stores returning back to 2019 levels of sales and retail revenue up 24.9% in the 9 weeks to December 31, while post-Christmas sales disposed of stock at strong rates.
Its Black Friday event also pulled significant numbers of customers back into stores and increased traffic on its website, Superdry said.
Julian Dunkerton, founder and chief executive officer of Superdry, said: “Despite the underlying brand recovery, our profits in the first half fell short of expectations mainly due to the underperformance of Wholesale. We reorganised our team and our approach to support our Wholesale partners and expect to see their confidence return”.
“Whilst we did trade well through November and December, the outlook for the remainder of the year is uncertain and as a result, we are moderating our profit outlook to broadly breakeven. We don’t expect market conditions to become easier any time soon, but with a new financing package in place and the brand in great health, we approach the year ahead with optimism”, he added.
In December, it was reported that Superdry’s CEO was considering a sale of the company.