Shares in high-street retailer Supergroup (LSE: SGP) lifted over 5% in early trade this morning, following the release of its third-quarter interim management statement.
The owner of the SuperDry brand remains on track to deliver profit in line with market expectations, according to chief executive officer Julian Dunkerton, as total group sales jumped by 22.1% to £141.1m in Q3, and total retail sales up by 18.2% to £113.8m.
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Management pointed towards its successful strategy of “focusing on full-price trading” in the quarter — whereas many rivals introduced heavy discounts — leading to Supergroup maintaining the margin gains achieved in H1.
The company did not have to repeat its clearance activity on eBay as it had to this time last year, due to a “cleaner stock position”. As a result, third-quarter like-for-like sales were only incrementally up (by 1.3%), but when the impact of the eBay activity is accounted for, this lifted to a more pleasing 4.9% growth.
Elsewhere, Supergroup also opened 14 franchised stores, closed three, and transferred seven stores into the Retail estate within Q3, and continues to expand globally with new stores in France, Hong Kong, Latvia, Malaysia, Philippines, Spain, South Korea and Thailand.
CEO Dunkerton commented:
“Our strong spring/summer 2014 order book and the positive responses from both the media and our trading partners to the autumn/winter 2014 range presented at the London men’s fashion week, give me confidence in the product range going forward and the strength of the brand.”
