Global growth, womenswear and e-tail boost Mountain Warehouse results

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 31, 2019

Outdoor gear specialist Mountain Warehouse is continuing to grow and has just reported its 22nd consecutive year of rising sales as the company's store expansion programme delivers rewards.

And it also owes some of its success to its focus on offering more summer weather womenswear options, as well as its international expansion and its digital offering.

Its latest full-year results showed an increase in like-for-like sales of 5.3% after it opened 48 new stores, 33 of them in its domestic UK market. The company also opened new distribution centres in Poland and New Zealand to better service its international business.

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It said that in the year to February 24, total sales rose 13% to reach £255 million with that international business in particular outperforming. International sales rose 20% and now account for more than 30% of its total turnover.

E-commerce was also buoyant with a 23% increase that means it accounts for around a quarter of the company’s total revenue.

It all helped to boost the pre-tax profit figure, which rose 14% year-on-year to a record £23.7 million.

And the company is planning even more expansion in this financial year with 50 new shops on the cards, creating 550 new jobs. Around 20 of those shops will open in Britain with more coming in Europe, North America and New Zealand. The company currently has 87 stores outside of the UK.

And the firm’s gift chain Neon Sheep will get 10 new branches, doubling its current size.

The company acknowledged the headwinds facing the retail sector at the moment but said that its “relentless focus on value – great outdoor gear for all the family at great prices – continues to hit the mark.”

And founder/CEO Mark Neale said he’s continuing to “diversify and weather-proof the business.”

That has meant the firm has more than doubled the size of its women's summer range this year and expects to sell 100,000+ summer dresses, 500,000+ tops and T-shirts, and 100,000+ pieces of women’s swimwear.

Its sales of womenswear are growing twice as fast as the business as a whole, which is a lesson some other retail businesses could learn. Superdry, for instance, has regularly cited its dependence on winter clothing as being behind its underperformance in the summer season.