Joules first-half revenue jumps 18% despite challenging market

Fashion retailer Joules reported a rise in first-half sales on Tuesday despite challenging conditions.

In the 26 weeks to 26 November, revenue rose 18.2% to £96.2m, reflecting the brand's expansion and growing customer base, along with a strong performance from both new and core collections.

The company, which now has more than one million active customers, said retail revenue was up 16.2% to £65.9m, with good growth across both stores and e-commerce. Joules opened 10 new stores across its different store formats during the period.

Wholesale revenue rose in line with expectations by 23% to £30.1m, reflecting the previously reported good growth in the Autumn/Winter 2017 wholesale order book. Meanwhile, gross margin in the period is expected to be in line with the first half of the prior year thanks to continued discipline in promotional activity and an improvement in international wholesale gross margin.

Chief executive Colin Porter said: "The Joules brand has performed well in the first half of FY18, delivering further expansion across markets, channels and product categories. 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 18 and are well positioned for the Christmas trading period."

At 0910 GMT, the shares were up 1.5% to 267p.