White Stuff profits dented by digital spend and discounting

The fashion business reported a 31.6% drop in EBITDA to £4.1m in the year to April 27, despite a 2.6% uplift in total sales.

White Stuff said it increased its investment in digital marketing and engaged in more promotional activity than anticipated, in a highly discounted fashion market.

It said it was also hit by “well-documented increases in costs due to external factors”. The retailer pinpointed pension auto-enrolment as one such cost that had an “adverse impact” on its bottom line.

White Stuff hailed its top-line growth, however, with ecommerce revenues up 8% year on year. Online sales now account for almost a third of its total sales.

Store sales dipped 0.2%, but its wholesale operation grew revenues 4.3%.

Sales made outside the UK jumped 28.3% during the year.

Alongside its financial figures, White Stuff revealed it has poached The Body Shop’s US boss Toby Milton to take up the newly created role of multichannel director.

Milton will join in October, with responsibility for delivering “a consistent customer experience and trading stance” across its bricks-and-mortar, online, wholesale and marketplace operations.

The appointment forms a key part of White Stuff boss Jo Jenkins’ strategy to build “a more customer-centric business”. She is focusing on creating an IT infrastructure and ramping up investment in staff to build “a solid platform” for multichannel growth.

Jenkins said: “In a tough retail climate, we have focused on core trading principles, which have allowed us to end the year with positive sales and reduced levels of stock in the business. I’d like to thank all of my White Stuff colleagues for their commitment to delivering this result in such an unforgiving market.”

White Stuff cautioned that trading since the end of its fiscal year had been “challenging” and said it put “a realistic plan” in place to reflect the turbulent trading climate.

It added it was “controlling costs tightly” to allow it to respond to “any further deterioration in consumer confidence”.

Jenkins added: “As we look to the future, we are investing in our people and systems to give us a strong platform for growth. The leadership team is in place to accelerate our transformation, ensuring we create a positively differentiated experience for customers in all that we do.

“We remain cautious about the outlook given the uncertainty of the Brexit outcome and we continue to manage the business tightly, to respond to the market changes, driving growth online and internationally.”