Dr Martens FY profits surge 61% on full-price pivot, shares spark

(Sharecast News) - Shares in Dr Martens surged by 7% on Tuesday as the UK bootmaker reported a sharp jump in annual profits as its move to more full-price sales started to pay off.

Adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to March 29 soared by 61% to £55m, driven by a 19% jump in shoe sales. Chief executive Ije Nwokorie has implemented a "consumer first" strategy, cutting back on discount activity and expanding product lines to boost margin recovery.

Revenue was down 2.9% in reported terms to £764.9m with direct-to-consumer revenue partly hit by the switch to full-price sales.

The company also revealed it had paid around £10m in US tariffs, which would be treated as an exceptional cost "due to their magnitude and unusual nature, with any future refunds to be considered exceptional income" after the Supreme Court ruled the levies illegal.

"We are currently navigating an unpredictable trading environment, with geopolitical uncertainty impacting consumer confidence, and against this backdrop are focused on executing our strategy," the company said on Tuesday.

"There is still ongoing work to complete in some areas of the business, including the execution of our retail strategy, which will represent a short-term revenue headwind. However, our business is materially more resilient than it was previously, and this underpins our confidence in our medium-term targets."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com