• Pre-tax profit up 18.4%
  • Revenue up 27.4%
  • Like-for-like sales up 12.7%

Superdry parent company SuperGroup released its full-year results early after a preliminary draft of the figures was stolen from an employee.

The fashion retailer released a brief version of its results for the 52 weeks to April 29 following the theft, and issued the full preliminary report three days later. 

SuperGroup’s underlying pre-tax profit jumped 18.4% to £87m, on a comparable 52-week basis.

Sales advanced 27.4% to £752m, which the retailer attributed in part to its international operations benefiting from the weak pound in a trading update in May.

SuperGroup’s like-for-like sales across its bricks-and-mortar estate and online operations increased 12.7%.

Underlying operation margin during the period was 11.9%, down from 12.6% the previous year.

The international retail group plans to open approximately 125,000 sq ft of new store space in the year ahead, the bulk of which will be in Europe, and will invest £45m in expanding and refurbishing its bricks-and-mortar footprint.

It is also looking to grow its share of the athleisure market by introducing a number of standalone sports stores as well as dedicated sports shop-in-shops in some of its larger stores. 

In the later complete release, SuperGroup chief executive Euan Sutherland said:

“SuperGroup has made further significant progress this year, delivering growth in sales, profit and the ordinary dividend as we maintained momentum against all elements of our strategy.

”Our focus on delivering long-term sustainable growth continues, through a multi-channel approach that balances a disciplined owned and franchised store opening programme with further development of our re-engineered wholesale channel and strong ecommerce proposition. 

“The group is globally diversified and financially strong and we remain confident in our strategy to further embed Superdry’s position as a global lifestyle brand.

”Investment in infrastructure is underpinning our global growth plans and creating future leverage opportunities while ongoing product innovation and new social and digital marketing campaigns are introducing new customers to the Superdry brand.”

UK uncertainty

The UK-based group, which has a physical presence in 62 countries, said the “economic environment has been tough and the political backdrop uncertain”.

”The Brexit vote and fluctuating exchange rates have had the most significant direct impact.”

However, it said the Superdry brand has “proved resilient”, and the increased exposure of the business to different countries, markets and currencies has provided some insulation from that impact.

72% of the group’s total sales volumes are generated from outside the UK, and 98% of its new retail space opened in the last year was overseas.

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