SuperGroup powers on in first half

SuperGroup announced strong trading figures for the first half, made to look all the more impressive by soft results the previous year.

Second quarter sales were up 20.3% to £98.4m and half year revenues increased by 16.2% to £158.2m.

The firm said that while it was mindful of a competitive Christmas trading season ahead, the group was on track to deliver profits in-line with market expectations for the full year.

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Total UK sales in the quarter were £52.2m, an increase of 32.2% on the previous year, while like-for-like sales were up 5.8%.

For the half-year, sales increased 26.5% to £92.4m and like-for-like sales were up 3.9%.

This was measured against soft prior year comparatives, the group having reporting a 3.3% drop like-for-like sales the previous year after problems with warehouse distribution.

The performance was also helped by the cold weather, particularly in the latter part of the quarter, combined with the impact of the new Autumn/Winter ranges, SuperGroup said.

On a constant currency basis wholesale sales for the quarter were £48.4m, up 14.4%.

Adjusting for foreign exchange rate movements the currency adjusted sales figure is £46.2m, an increase of 9.2%.

For the half year, sales growth at constant currency was up 7.9% and up 4.4% adjusting for currency.

The company said orders from Europe and the rest of the world had continued to show significant growth, while UK Wholesale sales continued to decline as expected.