SuperGroup suffers growth slowdown on stocking delays
SUPERGROUP, the British company behind the rapidly-expanding Superdry fashion brand, has reported a slowdown in its phenomenal sales growth, prompting a substantial drop in its share price.
Shares in SuperGroup slumped by 22 per cent after it said total sales had increased by 61 per cent to £66m in the three months to 1 May.
That represented a sharp drop from growth of 87 per cent in its third quarter. Chief executive Julian Dunkerton said the slowdown was a blip, attributing it to the phasing of store openings and not getting its full range of summer stock out to stores quickly enough to benefit from the UK’s unseasonably warm spring weather. “We had too many hoods and jackets out and not enough flip flops and espadrilles,” he said
Dunkerton said SuperGroup would meet current market expectations for 2010-11 profit, and that he was still pleased with underlying growth trends and did not think sales of the firm’s trademark T-shirts, hoodies, check shirts and jogging bottoms were being dented by the UK’s tough economic outlook.