Superdry hit by Christmas sales slump

Boss warns of a tough 2024

SUPERDRY warned its fortunes on the High Street were unlikely to improve any time soon after a festive slump.

The fashion retailer blamed mild weather – hitting demand for its warm winter clothes– as well as a tough retail environment as it revealed sales for the 12 weeks to January 20 fell 13.7pc.

Founder Julian Dunkerton said: ‘Christmas trading proved challenging, and we do not expect market conditions to get any easier in the near term.’

The retailer also announced the departure of finance chief Shaun Wills, the fourth to leave the role in five years.

Dunkerton, 58, has been battling to turn around Superdry since returning as chief executive in 2019 following a boardroom coup.

But its share price has continued to languish and is 99pc lower than its peak six years ago.

It fell even further yesterday, down 2.6pc, meaning that the shares have lost around 50pc of their value since the start of January alone. The Christmas update came as Superdry published halfyear results showing a 23.5pc slump in sales to £219.8m for the six months to october 28. Losses nearly doubled to £25.3m.

Dunkerton, (pictured with his wife, fashion designer Jade Holland Cooper) said: ‘This has clearly been a difficult period for Superdry.’ He said part of the fall in revenues was due to its decision to pull out of the US.

And he said turnaround efforts have made ‘significant operational strides’ as it cuts costs and scales back stock levels.

Sales over the Christmas period, when it was colder, were not quite as bad as in the warm autumn months. But they were hit by shoppers taking advantage of Black Friday to do some of their festive shopping earlier, a spokesman for the company said.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘The area of the market that Superdry is targeting is a particularly difficult point on the spectrum.

‘It’s not high end enough to be considered luxury, and it’s not a bargain option either.’