Specialty Fashion Group, owner of Katies and Millers, has warned of a tough season ahead.
The group announced that, as foreshadowed in its full year results announcement in August, difficult market conditions experienced in July have continued over the first quarter.
The negative impact of the first quarter on trade means that any improvement is unlikely to be sufficient to recover the shortfall in earnings in that period.
As a result, the Group anticipates first half underlying earnings (EBITDA) to be in the range of $14 million to $17 million versus $30.4 million last year.
The business is continuing an improvement program focused on optimising the store portfolio, accelerated closure of loss making stores and continuation of its cost out program.
Concurrently, it has now completed the successful implementation of a new eCommerce platform to maximise multi-channel migration.
Full year underlying EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $14 million to $20 million versus $26.7 million last year.