UNSATISFACTORY RESULTS DESPITE INCREASE IN TURNOVER.
Brande, Denmark, 2015-11-27 — /EPR Retail News/ — BESTSELLER’s* annual report shows a turnover of EUR 2.93 billion and a result before tax of EUR 134 million.
“An 8% increase in turnover and a EUR 134 million result signify that we are in no way living up to our expectations. It is unsatisfactory and not at the level, where our company needs to be,” says Anders Holch Povlsen.
According to Anders Holch Povlsen there could be many explanations for the disappointing results, however, the answer is quite clear:
“We haven’t been good enough at managing our buying activities, and our retail operations have not been profitable in several markets. Our cost levels are too high when it comes to personnel costs and other operating costs. The fact that we have only performed a partial hedging of the US dollar has also had a negative effect on this year’s result,” states Anders Holch Povlsen.
Market performance
There are no overall tendencies for the development on BESTSELLER’s various markets:
“We suffer a loss on our retail operations in the Middle East, the UK and Canada, and the development on the Scandinavian markets has also been unsatisfactory. However, we do see positive tendencies in Southern and Central Europe,” Anders Holch Povlsen elaborates.
Future initiatives
“This year’s unsatisfactory results come as no surprise to us, and we have already initiated a more strict management of our operations and costs. We have done this through an internal initiative called ‘Fit for Fight’ launched in February 2015. ‘Fit for Fight’ must streamline our operations as well as our organisation and not least simplify our processes. This is necessary in order to turn the tide and present satisfactory results once again.”
“For the financial year 2015/16, we expect a result before tax of EUR 268 million through a continued progress and a concentrated effort from every single one of us in BESTSELLER,” Anders Holch Povlsen finishes.
KEY FIGURES FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2014/15*
Net turnover EUR 2.93 billion
Result before tax EUR 134 million
Total equity EUR 1.4 billion
Markets: Most of Europe, the Middle East, North America, India and globally via e-commerce.
*All figures are consolidated figures for BESTSELLER A/S and VILA A/S.
SUSTAINABILITY
BESTSELLER’s sustainability report 2014/15 is available at bestseller.com/sustainability
For more information, please contact CSR and Communication Director Mogens Werge at +45 27 95 87 13 or mogens.werge@bestseller.com
SOURCE: BESTSELLER