Premier Retail Store Closures Impact FY21 Results

The business, which houses brands like Peter Alexander, JayJays, Smiggle, Portmans, dotti, The Just Group, Just Jeans and Jacqui.E, explained that the closure of stores during the pandemic played a huge role in its results.

Since the beginning of the financial year, Premier Retail temporarily shut more than 50 percent of its store network, losing 42,000 trading days in the FY. For 52 of the 53 trading weeks in FY21, stores were temporarily closed across its global network, resulting in 176 stores being forced to close ‘in any given week’. “To say the conditions were unprecedented is an understatement,” said Solomon Lew, the Chairman of Premier Retail.

“However, from challenge comes opportunity. And your Board believes that the challenges faced by the sector have rapidly accelerated a significant structural change in the retail industry.”

Premier recorded an NPAT  of $271.8 million, up 97.3 percent from the previous year. Furthermore, its retail business recorded an EBIT of $351.9 million, up 88 percent compared to FY20.

The last time Premier shared its financial update, its global sales were down .5 percent for the first seven weeks of the HY. However, over the last three weeks, stores have been able to gradually re-open across ANZ. As such, sales are up 10.1 percent on the same period last year.

“2021 has been an incredibly difficult year for consumers and businesses in the context of the COVID-19 health crisis,” said Lew. “Premier is a global company, and we have observed, first-hand, the impacts of the pandemic across our businesses in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the UK, Ireland and Europe.”

Premier Retail is a major player in the retail game, with annual sales reaching more than $1.4 billion in FY21. Its apparel sales increased 25.3 percent to $841.6 million. Peter Alexander saw an increase in its annual sales of 34.7 percent, reaching $388.2 million.

“Premier also reported online sales of $300.7 million across its brands, up 36.4 percent on our previous record result,” said Lew. “The online business contributed over 20 percent of total Group sales for the year and has a significantly higher EBIT margin than the retail store channel.”

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