Joules Group plc Pre-Close Trading Update (5688Q)

TIDMJOUL

RNS Number : 5688Q

Joules Group plc

07 June 2018

Joules Group plc

('Joules' or the 'Group')

Pre-close Trading Update

Continued expansion of the Joules brand within the UK and international markets

Joules, the premium British lifestyle brand, today provides a trading update covering the 52-week period to 27 May 2018 (the 'Period' or 'FY18').

Group revenues increased by 18.4% year on year to GBP185.9 million (18.8% growth on a constant currency basis) as the Group's strong momentum throughout the first half of the year and Christmas period continued in the second half. This performance reflects the appeal of the Joules brand, our distinctive product offering and growing customer base.

Retail revenue increased by approximately 15.9% on the prior year (15.9% on a constant currency basis). This performance was driven by a very good e-commerce sales performance, as well as continued growth across the Group's UK and ROI store estate, which benefited from 15 net new stores during the year.

Wholesale revenue increased by approximately 24.0% on the prior year (25.7% on a constant currency basis). This was driven by strong growth in the Spring/Summer order-book from both our UK and international wholesale customers.

The Board anticipates that the Group gross margin will be marginally ahead of the prior year. This is a result of maintaining promotional discipline within retail channels and an improved gross margin in international wholesale, where we have completed the migration of the US third-party distributor activity to an in-house model and seen a favourable product mix with an increased proportion of clothing sales.

As a result of the Group's revenue growth, improved gross margin and disciplined cost management, the Board anticipates reporting that the underlying profit before tax for the Period will be marginally ahead of analyst expectations*.

The Group will announce its Preliminary Results for the 52-weeks to 27 May 2018 on Wednesday 25 July 2018.

Colin Porter, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"This performance is testament to the strength and appeal of the Joules brand and our distinctive products which continue to resonate with our growing and highly engaged customer base. Our multichannel approach and 'buy now, wear now' product proposition has enabled the Group to deliver a performance ahead of our initial expectations, despite the widely reported challenges in the sector.

We have made excellent progress against our strategy of further developing the brand in the UK and target international markets and we remain confident of continued growth and expansion of the Joules brand."

*Company compiled analyst consensus for Underlying PBT in FY18 is GBP12.6 million.

Enquiries:

 
 Joules Group plc                   Tel: [phone] 
                                     255 
 Colin Porter, CEO 
  Marc Dench, CFO 
 Hudson Sandler (Financial PR)      Tel: [phone] 
                                     4133 
 Alex Brennan 
  Lucy Wollam 
 Peel Hunt LLP, Nominated Advisor   Tel: [phone] 
                                     8900 
 Dan Webster 
  George Sellar 
 Liberum Capital Limited            Tel: [phone] 
                                     2000 
 John Fishley 
  Joshua Hughes 
 

Joules - 'a premium lifestyle brand with an authentic British heritage'

Established in Britain by Tom Joule nearly three decades ago, Joules is a premium lifestyle brand with an authentic heritage.

A true multi-channel lifestyle brand, Joules carefully designs clothing, footwear and accessories for women, men and children, as well as an expanding range of homewares, toiletries and eyewear collections, with personality to match those of its customers' colourful and uplifting outlooks, available through its own retail stores, online, rural shows and events and wholesale channels.

Quality, Britishness, family values, colour and humour make Joules stand out from the crowd. This approach, along with an unwavering attention to detail, and drive to surprise and delight its customers with unexpected product details, has been central to the brand's success and expansion and remains at the heart of everything Joules creates.

www.joules.com | www.joulesgroup.com

Joules Fast Facts

   -- Joules is an international brand, available in the UK, USA, Germany, France and other European markets 
 
   -- Joules operates 123* stores in the UK and ROI across a range of location types, has a significant online business, 
      and a well-established wholesale business with more than 1,500 stockists worldwide including John Lewis, Dillards, 
      Next Label and Nordstrom 
 
   -- Joules' talented in-house print design team lovingly hand-draw all of the prints you see within its collections 
      each season 
 
   -- Joules is proud of its British heritage and still has strong roots in Market Harborough, the site of its first 
      shop and head office - since day one 
 
   -- Colin Porter joined as COO in 2011 and became CEO in September 2015, with Tom Joule focusing on the creative side 
      of the business in his capacity as Chief Brand Officer 
 
   -- Joules won Mainstream Brand of the Year at the Drapers Awards 2016 and has previously won the Drapers Best 
      British Fashion Retailer of the Year at the 2015 awards 
 
   -- Joules received Mark of Excellence for The Best Fashion Retailer at the Retail Week Awards 2018 

*As at May 2018

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June 07, 2018 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)