Superdry’s (SDRY) chief executive Julian Dunkerton is asking investors to keep the faith. Having returned to lead the clothing brand in early April, following something of a boardroom coup, he began the slow process of turning the ailing group around, slashing promotional activity and attempting to reassert its design-led heritage. Mr Dunkerton has led the group since just before the current financial year began, and has warned his plans will take two to three years to bear fruit, but the share price fall that followed results implies some were hoping to see more by this stage.
Sales fell by more than a tenth, reflective, said management, of the “year of reset” the group is going through. A focus on full-price sales yielded a 250 basis point improvement in the gross margin, albeit one more than offset by the impact from foreign exchange movements and stock accounting changes. Challenging trading conditions swung underlying pre-tax profits to a £2.3m loss, while full-year profit looks likely to miss expectations due to a combined £10m in charges relating to stock write-downs and bad debt.
However, broker Peel Hunt is maintaining its pre-tax profit and EPS forecasts at £18.9m and 18.4p for the April 2020 year-end, saying “early signs of range improvements look encouraging”. This is set against FY2019 figures of £41.9m and 36.2p.
| SUPERDRY (SDRY) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 484p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 397m | |
| TOUCH: | 479-484p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 576p | LOW: 354p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.9% | PE RATIO: | NA | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 306p* | NET DEBT**: | 4% | |
| Half-year to 26 Oct | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2018 | 415 | 26.4 | 24.7 | 9.30 |
| 2019 | 369 | -4.2 | -7.9 | 2.00 |
| % change | -11 | - | - | -78 |
| Ex-div: | 19 Dec | |||
| Payment: | 24 Jan | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £49.4m, or 60p a share **Does not include IFRS 16 lease liabilities of £340m | ||||
