Fashion retailer Supergroup (LSE:SGP) has delivered a strong set of results today and they’re especially strong given the problems besetting fashion retail at present. Revenues are up 21% and annual sales in its retail divisions increased 25%. On current form, Supergroup is ‘a good house in a bad neighbourhood’ and today’s results should help ease concerns that the retail sector is dying on its feet.
A key reason for the strong set of figures boils to down to sound strategic planning and exploitation of opportunities online. The company had earlier planned major online expansion with more international e-stores, including a strategic move to open dedicated web stores in Taiwan and Australia. Additionally, the company’s offline expansion plan to dedicate 80% of planned future retail space (90,000 sq ft) overseas is coming to fruition, the firm having recently expanded into China via a deal with Trendy International Group, a casual fashion company backed by LVMH.
In e-commerce, the retailer now has 26 international websites across 18 countries in 12 different languages, which deliver to 169 countries. Wise investors – Warren Buffett among the wisest – always advocate that good management makes for good execution. The company’s CEO, Euan Sutherland, clearly deservers huge praise for not only delivering on the strategic plan but also having the nous to take advantage of the momentum towards online shopping.
A new era
Income investors can add one additional stock to their buy list as Supergroup has paid its first dividend this quarter. Supergroup’s annual yield is currently 0.49% as the company takes a prudent approach to dividend payouts – in the range of three to three-and-half-times earnings.
And rightly so, as Supergroup needs to adjust to balancing its cashflow between dividend payouts and capital expenditure. Capex will be paramount to Supergroup’s continued success as it’s hoped that investment and expansion will lead to a higher rate of customer acquisitions and thus help bolster top-line growth. Both Investment and expansion remain key factors for the CEO. He took the opportunity to reiterate his vision by saying that “our focus remains on the extension of the Superdry brand and execution of clear growth opportunities, underpinned by continued investment in infrastructure to strengthen our business.”
What should encourage income investors is that should the UK retailer continue to churn out sound numbers as it did today, there’s every possibility of a future yield increase. The City certainly seems to share this view as a 25% yield increase is predicted by 2017.
Yet it’s those investors seeking capital gains that may be eager to add this stock to their portfolios with hopes that this latest set of impressive results could be just the boost the stock requires to recover. Despite the current 12% gain in today’s session the share price is still down 3.2% year-to-date.
