Superdry online sales help lift H1 pre-tax profits

Trendy fashion outlet Superdry said underlying half year pre-tax profits rose 20.5% to £25.3m as online sales helped to boost revenue along with forex tailwinds.

Reported pre-tax profits fell almost a third to £9.1m after an increase in fair value movement on forex contracts.

Superdry also released a trading update for the 10 weeks to January 6, with global group revenue up 12.6% to £215.6m, including a 0.5% benefit from foreign exchange and group retail like-for-like growth of 4.7%.

Wholesale revenues grew by 20.4%, while those from online were up 30.5% and retail shops 3.1%.

Half year group revenue rose 20.4% to £402m, including a £12m benefit from foreign exchange.

Retail revenue was up 12.8% to £242.7m, including like-for-like growth of 6.3%. Online revenue growth was 31.6% and shop revenue increased to £181.5m, up 7.6% year-on-year.

Chief executive Euan Sutherland said the board was confident in delivering full year underlying profit before income tax in line with the range of analyst expectations and in the "quality of the sustainable financial performance we can deliver".