SUPERDRY SHARES SOAR AFTER £70 MILLION REFINANCING DEAL
SUPERDRY shares soared yesterday after it announced a £70m financing deal to see it through the crisis despite a crash in sales.
Sales at the fashion chain fell 24.1pc in the three months to July 25, compared to the year before, which it said was better than feared. Total store sales plunged 58.1pc in its first quarter, with like-for-like trading down 32.3pc.
Online sales surged 93.2pc, though it said they have started returning to more normal levels in recent weeks as stores reopen with the easing of lockdown restrictions.
The company said trading remained ‘materially’ affected by the coronavirus pandemic despite 95pc of its shops now having reopened.
The group also announced a £70m loan from its lenders HSBC and BNPP to ‘secure our recovery’. Shares rose 18.7pc, or 22.1p, to 140p, but this was still well-down on its 507p share price at the start of the year.
Superdry’s boss Julian Dunkerton, who co-founded the business in 2003, is looking to re-invigorate its clothing line.
After leaving the business in 2018, the 55-year-old became chief executive again in a boardroom coup in April last year, leading to the resignation of seven directors.
He promised to restore doubledigit percentage operating margins and rebuild profitability in two to three years – but the efforts to turn the company around have been hit by the virus.
The company placed close to nine in ten of its staff on furlough and deferred payments to both landlords and the taxman.
Dunkerton said: ‘I’m confident we can reset the brand and deliver on our transformation plans.’