Glasgow headquartered fast fashion retailer Quiz has reported a 73% fall in group revenue to £17.2m, in part as a result of the pandemic's "significant impact" on trading conditions, with stores and concessions closed for several months.
Interim results for the six months ended 30 September showed underlying operating losses of £5.5m for the period.
The administration of its standalone store subsidiary Kast Retail last summer actually resulted in a £16.2m gain being recorded, with earnings before tax rising to £12.8m, from £5.8m during the same period last year.
Increased levels of discounting were reflected in Quiz's gross margin decreasing to 51.7% from 61.7% year-on-year.
The company reported net cash at 25 January of £3m, with a further £3.5m of undrawn banking facilities.
Last June, the retailer undertook a restructuring of its store estate.
New lease arrangements were negotiated for 60 of Quiz's 75 UK stores, to provide increased flexibility, alongside plans to reduce capital spend and operating costs.
The board has also been taking steps to reduce its exposure to UK department stores, with the number of concessions operated reducing by 20% to 142.
Of these remaining concessions, 85 are in Debenhams stores and 29 in Outfit stores operated by Arcadia, both of which are now in administration.
Online revenues halved during the period, reflecting strong sales of occasion wear in the prior year, which were only partially mitigated by the increase in availability of casual wear product lines.
A 57% decline of sales through Quiz's third-party website partners also weighted on e-commerce performance.
Quiz founder and chief executive Tarak Ramzan commented: "As with other omni-channel retailers, we have faced significant challenges as a result of the pandemic.
"While we continue to rebalance our product offering towards more casual clothing reflecting near term customer demand, given our focus on occasion wear, demand for our products has been impacted significantly by the pandemic.
"We are confident that the actions taken to preserve liquidity and reduce our cost base mean that the group can return to profitable growth as market conditions improve."
