UK fashion retailer Joules has offered an optimistic outlook as it delivered good growth across all channels in its first-half.
In a pre-close trading update today (12 December), the company said group revenue for the 26 weeks to 26 November increased 18.2% to GBP96.2m (US$128.2m) from GBP81.4m in the year-ago period. Joules said the sales hike reflected the brand’s expansion and growing customer base, which is now at more than one million active customers, along with the strong performance of both new and core collections.
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Retail revenue was up 16.2% to GBP65.9m, compared to GBP56.7m in the year-ago period, driven by good growth across stores and e-commerce and the addition of ten new stores during the period. Wholesale revenues increased in line with expectations by 23% to GBP30.1m, reflecting the previously reported good growth in the autumn/winter 2017 wholesale order book. Joules said the brand has also continued to expand in its target international markets.
Gross margin in the period is expected to be in line with the first half of the prior year, reflecting continued discipline in promotional activity and an improvement in international wholesale gross margin. reflecting continued discipline in promotional activity and an improvement in international wholesale gross margin.
“The Joules brand has performed well in the first half of FY18, delivering further expansion across markets, channels and product categories,” said CEO Colin Porter. “The group’s performance reflects the growing appeal of the Joules brand amongst both new and existing customers across our target markets.
“We look forward with confidence to the second half of the financial year, underpinned by the strength of the Joules brand and our collections. Whilst trading conditions will remain challenging, we have seen good growth in our wholesale order book for spring/summer 2018 and are well positioned for the Christmas trading period.”
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By GlobalDataJoules will update on Christmas trading on 9 January 2018 and will announce its interim results for the 26-week period ended 26 November 2017 on 31 January 2018.
