Solomon Lew hits another home run
Solomon Lew's Premier Investments has reported another solid half year result.
The retail group saw net profit surge 25.9% to $71.5 million for the period.
Peter Alexander was the standout fashion performer, with total sales up 22.5% driven by like-for-like growth and new store openings.
Stationary brand Smiggle was the best performer overall, achieving global sales growth of 46.5% and total sales of $109 million.
Gross margin was up 139 bps to 64.8% despite the weaker Australian dollar.
Lew said it was a high quality result.
"Sales growth is strong both in store and online, proving again that we are delighting our customers across all of our brands.
"All of our seven brands delivered positive like for like sales growth, demonstrating the strength of our customer offer in each market.
"Our two growth brands continue to excel, with Peter Alexander sales growing by 22.5% and opening 8 new stores during the first half.
"Smiggle delivered global sales growth of 46.5% and our UK roll-out is progressing well ahead of schedule.
"We continue to believe that Smiggle has the potential to become a truly global brand.
“Our online sales grew by 47.7% during the half, significantly outperforming the broader market at an EBIT margin significantly higher than the group average.”
Premier Retail CEO Mark McInness said the entire portfolio is performing well.
"The strong sales performance, our targeted capital investments and our disciplined approach to cost, labour, rents and inventory management has allowed us to post a record sales and EBIT result.
"These results are proof that the team we have in place is delivering on our strategy to rejuvenate our core brands, focus on efficiency, and drive the growth of Smiggle, Peter Alexander, and our online offer.
“We have continued to control our costs well, with store wage and rent productivity improvements throughout the half and our investment in transforming our supply chain paying dividends.
"We will continue to invest in our people, technology and brands."