Lovisa has seen sales pick up in open markets such as Australia and New Zealand while its European stores once again face increased COVID numbers.
In a business update, the jewellery retailer reported that global comparable store sales for the 16 weeks since the end of FY20 were -10.2%, continuing the improving trend seen in the first eight weeks of the financial year of -19%, which itself was a further improvement on Q4 FY20 comparable store sales of -32.5%.
"We have continued to see stronger performance from those markets that have been reopened longest and with the least restrictions in place, with Australia and New Zealand continuing to be our best performing regions," Lovisa said in a statement.
"We have seen a large increase in COVID cases across a number of our markets over the past few weeks, in particular Europe, and continue to monitor these situations, however at the current time all of our European stores remain open," the business said.
Distribution of laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the EU, EEA and the UK, as of 22 October. Source: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
The business' online sales have continued to strengthen throughout the period, with total online sales up over 400% on FY19 for the first 16 weeks of the financial year to date.
"Our execution online remains a key focus to ensure it can become a meaningful part of our business, with digital store fronts how in place servicing all eight of our major markets around the world," Lovisa added.
"With the improving performance of our Australian stores as well as the growth in our Australian online business, we are no longer eligible for the JobKeeper wage subsidy...despite the ongoing temporary closure of our metropolitan Melbourne stores.
"Our Global Support Centre and our Australian Distribution Centre are both located in Melbourne and both have continued to function well during the government-imposed lockdown in supporting our global business operations," the business said.
Lovisa has opened 14 net new stores since the end of FY20, with 449 stores currently in the global network.
Its 30 Melbourne stores remain temporarily closed, with current advice indicating that those will be able to reopen on November 02.
The business added that its strategic plans for stores remain in place and it is ready to commence discussions with landlords.
"Our strategic plans remain in place, we are ready to continue our store roll out and we continue discussions with our landlords globally as we believe current circumstances will create further opportunities for expansion of our store network, which will be supported by our strong balance sheet with a continued net cash position and undrawn cash debt facilities available to support our ongoing investment in growth," Lovisa said.