Blistering summer puts the heat on Zalando
Online shopping giant Zalando suffered a 17 per cent drop in its share price this morning, as the firm cut its 2018 outlook for the second time in as many months.
The German-based retailer now expects adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) between €150m and €190m (£133m-£197m), compared with the previous guidance at the low end of a €220m-€270m range.
Co-chief executive Rubin Ritter, who noted that it was set to be 28 degrees Celsius in Berlin today, said the German-based retailer’s higher-priced winter clothes sales had been damaged by Europe’s prolonged summer heatwave.
“We don’t know when the season will start and when fall/winter will actually kick in. This is a problem for the entire industry,” said Ritter.
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The fashion group said that Europe’s blistering heatwave had reduced consumer demand “as demonstrated by shrinking fashion sales in the overall market during this period and leading to higher discounts than in the previous year.”
The profit warning comes just one month after the German online fashion group trimmed its outlook in early August.
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Zalando’s share price drop pulled down other other major European retailers, with the UK’s Asos sliding 5.4 per cent after missing analysts’ forecasts for sales growth in its latest trading period, amid efforts to ramp up warehousing space in Germany and the United States.