SuperGroup Christmas trading lifted by European roll-out

(ShareCast News) - SuperGroup reported a jump in revenue over the Christmas period thanks in part to the roll-out of the European store programme.For the 11-week period from 25 October to 9 January, retail revenues rose 14.6% to £143.5m.Meanwhile, sales in the 37-week period from 26 April to 9 January rose to £315.6m from £256.8m.The group, which owns the Superdry brand, opened 11 new stores in the period, four of which were in Germany, adding a total of 64,000 square feet to its trading space.SuperGroup said it traded in line with its planned promotional strategy throughout the period, with a series of sub-category promotions before Christmas followed by a focused clearance event, in-store and on-line.As a result, it kept its guidance for full year gross margin accretion of between 40 basis points and 60bps.Chief executive Euan Sutherland said: "With a positive customer reaction to our latest product developments, a strong pipeline for new stores in our targeted European markets and established momentum in e-commerce, the board remains confident in delivering underlying profit before tax for the full year in line with analyst expectations and in the brand's continued long-term growth."The current pre-tax profit consensus is £72.2m.At 0820 GMT, SuperGroup shares were up 0.9% to 1,593.60p.