NATIONAL: Domestic apparel supplier Gazal will focus on "prudent" inventory and financial management to trade through what it has described as a "patchy" start to fiscal 2009. The Sydney-headquartered group posted an after tax profit of $9.2 million for the year ended June 30, 2008. This was an increase of 12.8 per cent for the same period last year, with sales revenue also up by 4.7 per cent.
However, the company has braced itself for the remainder of calendar 2008, with economic commentators generally predicting flat to negative sales in the retail market.
Gazal has identified increasing inventory turns as a key strategy to overcome the slump, with turns improving to 3.5 times in fiscal 2008 as opposed to 3 times in the previous year. Closing inventory at the end of the period was $6.3 million lower than the same period last year.
The sale of urbanwear label Mambo's European and non-European businesses, along with strong cash flows from operating activities, assisted in reducing the company's net debt from $55.7 million at the end of fiscal 2007 to $33.8 million in fiscal 2008.
Gazal's key group of brands include Calvin Klein underwear, Van Heusen, Lovable, Bisley, Davenport and Midford.