Australian footwear conglomerate Accent Group is expecting flat growth in earnings before interest and tax for FY25 compared to FY24.
In an update to market, the owner of Hype DC and Platypus and distributor for more than a dozen other brands confirmed that trading conditions have remained challenging through the second half.
“Low overall growth in the lifestyle footwear market from March to early June has impacted sales in both the retail and wholesale segments,” the company wrote. “The prevailing promotional environment, along with a disciplined focus on managing inventory levels in a lower sales environment, continues to put pressure on gross margins.”
Accent Group noted that its like-for-like sales for the 23 weeks ending June 8 this year are down 1 per cent, with weeks 8 to 23 down 2.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, gross margin percentage in H2 to date is down around 80 basis points to the comparable period last year.
From this, Accent Group expects group EBIT for the full year ending June 29 to be in the range of $108 million and $111 million, at a similar level to FY24 EBIT which was $110.4 million.
Accent Group is expected to release its full year FY25 results on August 22 this year, with an investor briefing call scheduled for 10am that day.