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The returning founder of Superdry warned it would take time to fix the struggling British fashion group after a £130m charge for poorly performing stores pushed it into an annual loss.
Julian Dunkerton, the interim chief executive, won a bitter battle to rejoin the board in April, prompting the resignation of all its directors. Also the biggest shareholder, he warned its performance in the new financial year would “reflect market conditions and the historic issues inherited”.
Superdry made a statutory pre-tax loss of £85.4m for the year to 27 April versus a profit of £65.3m in the 2017-18 year. Underlying pre-tax profit slumped 57% to £41.9m – at the bottom of the range of analysts’ forecasts, which have been cut after a string of warnings. Group revenue was flat at £872m.
Superdry, whose shares have crashed 66% over the last year, said the non-cash onerous lease and impairment charges of £129.5m booked in its accounts reflected decreasing store revenues and its cautious recovery plan.
Dunkerton’s initial focus has been on getting product ranges right and improving its e-commerce proposition. He has increased the number of products sold online, put more stock into flagship stores and cut back promotions to improve profit margins.
“The issues in the business will not be resolved overnight,” Dunkerton said.
“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.”
Superdry ended the year with cash of £35.9m, which it said supported the maintenance of its dividend policy. It proposed a final dividend of 2.2p, making a total of 11.5p.
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