Shares of Superdry have fallen – and fallen big! The British fashion giant has witnessed a major slump after a 130 million pound (US $ 161 million) charge for poorly performing stores pushed it into an annual loss, kicking its shares down.
Julian Dunkerton, holding an 18.4 per cent stake in the company, is their biggest shareholder. He fought a bitter battle to rejoin the board of directors in April, which prompted the existing directors, including Chief Executive Euan Sutherland, to resign.
Dunkerton made a statement announcing a statutory pretax loss of 85.4 million pounds for the year to 27 April as opposed to a profit of 65.3 million pounds in 2017-18.
Superdry’s underlying pretax profit went down 57 per cent to 41.9 million pounds – even below the expectations of analysts who had already expected the worst after multiple warnings by the company.
The group revenue was flat at 872 million pounds.
Dunkerton is now the interim chief executive, as well as the group’s largest shareholder. He said the company’s performance in the new financial year would “reflect market conditions and the [historical] issues inherited,” with sales likely to fall.
He further added “This is an aggressive turnaround. This year is a year of stability with small moves forward but in 12 to 24 months you will see much more progress. The issues in the business will not be resolved overnight. Although we are only three months in, our initiatives are gaining some early traction and I am confident we are doing the right things to ensure that over time Superdry will return to strong profitable growth,” Dunkerton said.
