RCG Corporation, owner of The Athlete's Foot Australia, has revealed record half year profit for the fiscal year 2014.
The retailer confirmed a lift in consolidated net profit after tax of 9.2 per cent from $4.61 million to $5.03 million. Earnings before interest tax and depreciation also increased 4.7 per cent from $6.77 million to $7.1 million.
Total group sales increased 2.0 per cent to $94.3 million and EBITDA grew 2.3 per cent.
The Athlete Foot’s Australian stores also saw a rise in like for like sales of 2.1 per cent for the siz months to December 29, 2013.
Commenting on the results RCG Corporation CEO Hilton Brett said the company has started the year on the right foot and is confident going forward.
“First half earnings growth was exactly in line with our plans. We are confident in, and excited about, the prospects for the second half and we are still targeting full year earnings growth of 15 per cent”.
Brett also commented on a number of major long term projects that the company has brought to fruition during the half year, including:
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The completion of the rollout of Fitzi®, TAF’s proprietary new fitting technology which is believed to be the most advanced system of its type
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The completion of the rollout of Erply, TAF’s new generation point of sale and retail management solution
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The implementation of phase one of its new customer relationship management and cross channel marketing platform
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The launch of the ‘Partnership Program’, with four partnership stores now operational.
“The projects have all been in the pipeline for some time and it is gratifying and exciting to see them to come to fruition. Managements’ focus will now shift from implementation to leveraging off the opportunities created by these initiatives,” Brett said.
“We continue to be very pleased with the performance of the The Athlete’s Foot business and are particularly pleased with the January results, as the business continues to win market share in this key period.
“We are confident that these results, together with the anticipated contribution from partnership stores for the back half, will result in The Athlete’s Foot enjoying strong earnings growth for the remainder of the year.”
Brett added that the new brands and business have been transferred to RCG without disruption in a very short space of time and “are trading to expectation” to date.
“We are confident of them achieving their targets for the second half of the year.”