Expanding Fred Perry is upbeat as sales and profits rise

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 3, 2020

Fred Perry made pre-tax profit of £28.3 million in the 12 months to the end of March, a healthy year-on-year rise after it had made £21.3 million in the previous period. As well as rising sales, it said the increase was helped by its continued “firm control of the overhead cost base”.

The firm’s sales increased 3% to £122.2 million in the period, a figure that was boosted by its operations outside of the UK and Europe. The company had seen a 6% increase in its UK/Europe operations in the previous year but this time, sales were flat in the region. So it was good news that the rest of the world’s sales rose 13%, up from an also-healthy increase of 9% in the previous year.

It also said its gross profit rose to £66.1 million from £59.8 million with a gross margin percentage of 54.1%, higher than the 50.4% of a year earlier. And as well as those cost controls, it explained that the increase year-on-year was the result of a change in the sales mix and positive currency hedging.

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The firm’s overall financial position has also improved, with net assets rising to £133.1million from £122.3 million and cash rising to £7 million from £6.3 million.

The company appears to have been in a buoyant phase since the financial year end too. It didn’t give any updates on current trading but it has been very active on the store opening front with some high-profile debuts. Last spring it opened on Glasgow’s Ingram Street and opened a debut store in Spain. Then in October it opened a music-themed location in Camden. Finally in November it opened a flagship in Lower Manhattan, NYC.