Superdry woes continue as it flags going concern doubts
Embattled retailer Superdry has flagged going concern doubts after lockdown took another hit to its revenue.
Superdry’s underlying losses before tax widened to £10.6m from £2.3m in the same period the previous year.
Superdry’s share price plunged more than 11 per cent to 213.40p this morning.
It came as revenue plunged 23.4 per cent to £282.7m as lockdown restrictions forced the retailer to close on 23 per cent of its owned store trading days.
Its online sales, up nearly 50 per cent year-on-year account for half of Superdry’s retail revenue, helped to partially offset lost store sales which were down 44.8 per cent.
And the announcement of further restrictions has seen revenue slump 27.2 per cent in the 11 weeks to 9 January, notably in the crucial Christmas period. Even a 13.2 per cent increase in online sales could not offset the 52.1 per cent fall in store revenues.
Some 173 of Superdry’s stores are now temporarily closed, representing nearly three quarters of its portfolio.
The results come at an already turbulent time for the fashion retailer which, in 2019, laid out a turnaround plan after founder Julian Dunkerton made a return.
The fashion chain said the continued disruption “makes it more difficult than ever to forecast the outturn for the year”.
As such Superdry said: “We recognise the material uncertainty noted in our going concern assessment, and we are not providing formal guidance at this time for FY21 or beyond.”
As of 9 January, the retailer had net cash of £54.8m and total available liquidity of £130m.
Superdry anticipates further store closures through the third lockdown and a deceleration in its ecommerce sales.