London needs more tourists – but Superdry is back in the black.
So says CEO Julian Dunkerton, who hails today’s success as one of the best post-Covid turnaround stories going.
“All territories are really positive. We are feeling good about life,” he said. Crossrail will soon open a station near his flagship Bond Street store, something promised for several years.
“A few more tourists would help”, he said, with the weakness of the pound possibly a boost to that.
He called the present government “random” and said its unpredictability is making it hard to plan. “The current team are a bit random, that just makes it harder. But we are absolutely blasting it,” he told the Standard.
Superdry made profit of £17.9 million for the year to April, compared to clunking losses of £37 million last time.
Revenue rose 9.6% to £610 million.
Dunkerton, who left the company but later returned in anger at what was becoming of the stores, said: “These are exceptional times for retail and for the economy more generally, and like all brands we’re having to work harder than ever to drive performance. Against that backdrop, I am pleased that we managed to return the business to full-year profit, driven by increased full price sales, whilst also making strong strategic progress.”
Shoppers are moving away from online and back into stores – a sign of hope for the high street.
On the new government, he earlier told Drapers: We need proper stimulus. We should be talking about a free trade deal with Europe. We need a windfall tax on energy companies. What they’ve done is replace the energy company windfall tax with government debt.”
