SYDNEY: Footwear giant RCG Corporation is continuing to defy the financial downturn, with a healthy profit forecast, store rollouts and new brand acquisitions.
The company, which owns The Athlete’s Foot and Shoe Superstore retail stores, is expecting an increase of more than 20 per cent in profit before tax for the financial year to June 30, 2010.
It’s like-for-like sales growth for The Athlete’s Foot is 9.7 per cent for the year to date, and was 11.3 per cent for the four months to April 2010. The Athlete’s Foot chain has 140 stores across the country.
Like-for-like growth for Shoe Superstore is reported as 17 per cent in the eight months since the company acquired the business. It is planning to roll out up to 30 Shoe Superstore outlets sites over the next five years.
RCG Corporation recently took on the distribution of Merrell footwear and reported it is performing as expected. It is expected to deliver an EBIT margin of more than 20 per cent turnover in the 2011 financial year.
The company is building on its distribution business, acquiring the licences for two new footwear brands, Chaco and Cushe. Management of these will begin later this year.
RCG: Strong results reported.
