SuperGroup boss Peter Bamford 'sorry' as profits dry up
Apologies are back in fashion. The boss of SuperGroup has made an extraordinary plea for forgiveness a week after Barclays chairman Marcus Agius said he was ‘truly sorry’ for the rate fixing scandal.
Peter Bamford, chairman of the retail chain that owns the Superdry brand, engaged in a very public wringing of hands while posting a 15 per cent fall in underlying annual profit.
The shares have tanked 61 per cent over the course of the year but rose 50.5p to 385p on relief the latest figures were not worse than expected.
Sorry: Peter Bamford engaged in a very public wringing of hands while posting a 15 per cent fall in underlying annual profit
In an unusually frank admission Bamford said: ‘Our problems have been largely self-inflicted.
‘The last year has clearly been a difficult one for SuperGroup. Profits have fallen considerably short of expectations.
‘The underlying issue is that our
management and operational capability has fallen behind the needs of a
rapidly growing business. Clearly, keeping pace with this level of
growth would always have been a challenge, but we should have done
better.’
He also slammed the firm’s ability to
explain itself to its investors, saying: ‘Communications with the City
have proved to be challenging and have highlighted the need for a
thorough review of the group’s forecasting and review processes.’
The group which sells clothes that
are popular with celebrities including David Beckham, saw underlying
profit fall to £42.8million from £50.2million for the year to April 12.
But the headline pre-tax profit rose 8.7 per cent to £51.4million following a rapid period of expansion with a raft of new stores taking total sales up to £313.8million. Underlying sales rose a modest 2 per cent in the UK.
The group has been plagued by a series of problems, some connected to growing pains following its rapid progression from market stall to publically listed company – others to basic errors by its inexperienced management team.
There have been three profit warnings, the latest in April attributed to
getting a plus and a minus sign mixed up in its forecasting.
That setback followed stock availability issues in spring 2011 and a
flawed implementation of a warehouse IT system upgrade last autumn that
left shelves empty.
The firm has beefed up its top team
appointing Susanne Given as chief operating officer in April and Shaun
Wills as finance director.
Chief executive Julian Dunkerton was also full of remorse, saying: ‘This has been a disappointing year. ‘We have faced challenges brought about by the rapid growth of our business.’
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