Premier Investments’ retail division has recorded its second-highest first-half sales in two years to $879.5 million, driven by a 6.7 per cent lift in Peter Alexander.
The sleepwear brand's recent first-half sales lifted to $279.3 million, which was also up 92.8 per cent on the first half of FY20.
Premier Retail’s apparel brands - Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Dotti and Jacqui E - recorded the largest decline in first half sales of 8.1 per cent to $416.3 million, while accessories retailer Smiggle recorded a 3.6 per cent drop in revenue to $183.9 million.
“In a challenging general discretionary retail environment, Premier Retail delivered its second highest sales and EBIT performance in the Group’s history,” Premier’s chairman Solomon Lew said.
“The 1H24 EBIT of $209.8 million was 4.9% above the ‘circa $200 million’ expectation that we provided to the market on 1 December 2023, which in itself was an upgrade to the approximate $180 million consensus at that time.
Lew also confirmed that the ongoing strategic review has reached a new phase, with Premier “working towards” demerging Smiggle into a separate listed entity by the end of January 2025, while it is further exploring a demerger of Peter Alexander during the 2025 calendar year.
“The ongoing strategic review has identified that the potential demerger of Smiggle and Peter Alexander is likely to maximise and accelerate the growth opportunities for these two brands over time,” Lew said.
The review also identified growth opportunities for all of Premier’s retail brands, including the launch of Peter Alexander into the United Kingdom, with the first two stores and dedicated UK website planned to open before Christmas 2024. There are up to 10 new UK store opportunities in the short term.
Smiggle is continuing to explore future offshore markets both as future ‘owned’ stores and an evolving ‘wholesale’ channel. This comes as its Middle Eastern wholesale partner opened its first standalone Smiggle stores during the first half of FY24, with seven stores opened before Christmas. Smiggle expects to have over 17 standalone stores trading by July 2024, with the Middle Eastern wholesale agreement to open 60 freestanding stores within the next 10 years.
Smiggle has also reached an agreement with an existing wholesale partner to open standalone stores in Indonesia, expected to launch over 100 Smiggle stores in the region over the next 10 years.
The review also looked into Premier’s apparel brands, which led to the planned launch of a new loyalty program by Christmas 2024, as well as “optimising” the store portfolio, and shifts in product and sourcing.
“With customers facing increased cost of living pressures, Premier Retail’s strategy is anchored on delivering value for customers in our products and shopping experience, whilst also maintaining a relentless focus on inventory productivity and operational efficiencies,” Premier Retail interim CEO John Bryce said.
“We opened the second half with inventory down $33 million or 13% on last year. Sales for the first 8 weeks of 2H24 are showing improving momentum from 1H24, back up in line with the prior comparable period.”
For the first half, Premier Retail delivered online sales of $171.2 million, up 0.2 per cent on 1H23, and accounting for 19.5% of total sales.
The group harnesses 1,153 physical stores across six countries.