Fashion group Universal Store – which also manages Cheap Thrills Co and Perfect Stranger – is expecting another yearly double-digit boom in sales in FY26, off the back of double-digit growth in FY25.
In a trading update today, Universal Store (ASX:UNI) noted that as long as the market doesn’t change materially, group sales should lift by around 11.8 per cent and hit somewhere between $368 to $375 million. This is up from $333.3 million recorded in FY25.
The group also expects underlying earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) to lift by around 15.4 per cent to somewhere between $61.5 million and $64.5 million.
This comes as Universal Store Group’s year-to-date total sales grew 14 per cent across the group for the first 43 weeks of FY26, driven by double-digit lifts across all three brands.
Universal Store itself saw a sales lift of 11.8 per cent, with like-for-like sales up 8.5 per cent. Perfect Stranger sales have boomed by 39.8 per cent, with LFL sales up 12.9 per cent. And Cheap Thrills Co saw a 14.5 per cent lift in sales, with LFL sales up 3.8 per cent.
“The group’s YTD performance is very pleasing given current geopolitical and economic uncertainties,” Universal Store group CEO Alice Barbery said. “Despite these macro-economic conditions, we have not seen a material shift in sales trends across the group in this period.”
Despite the positive growth, the group did point out that CTC saw further deterioration of its wholesale channel through the second half of FY26, with the closure of key third-party customer retail stores and reduced intercompany sales to Universal Store.
The company views the challenges in the wholesale channel as structural and unlikely to improve in the near term. The wholesale channel represents less than 5 per cent of group sales, net of intercompany eliminations.
Thanks to this deterioration, management intends to recognise an impairment of CTC’s intangible assets of circa $24 million. This non-cash impairment charge will be excluded from underlying earnings.
Within the numbers, the Universal Store retail brand saw an 8.1 per cent LFL growth in the first 17 weeks of the second half of FY26. This compares to the reported +7.1% LFL growth in the first seven weeks of H2 FY26.
Universal Store currently has a store network of 87 stores with four new YTD store openings and – “as planned” – one store closure. The retailer will open an additional store in June 2026.
Perfect Stranger saw a 10 per cent LFL growth in the first 17 weeks of H2 FY26. This compares to the reported 4.9 per cent LFL growth in the first seven weeks of H2 FY26.
The youth brand currently has a store network of 26 stores and has opened seven new stores YTD. No further store openings are planned for the remainder of FY26.
As for CTC, the brand’s physical stores continue to perform well delivering positive YTD LFL growth of 17.9 per cent. This compares to the reported 18 per cent LFL growth in the first seven weeks of H2 FY26.
This growth supports management’s confidence in the retail strategy with additional initiatives in place to further improve retail and product execution.
Positive in-store growth has been offset by a 10 per cent YTD sales slip in the online channel due to reduced discounting and promotional activities.