SuperGroup hikes dividend as Christmas sales accelerate

(ShareCast News) - Amid troubled times for some more established clothing retailers, SuperGroup, the owner of the Superdry fashion brand, lifted its interim dividend by a quarter after a half year where sales and profits grew strongly in the UK and gained traction in the US and China.And in the 10 week peak trading period to 7 January, in which it opened nine new stores, the FTSE 250 group grew total sales 21% to £162.1m, with like-for-like sales growth accelerating to 14.9% and the online channel continuing to play an ever more important part.For the 26 weeks ended 29 October, SuperGroup generated sales of £334m, up 31% on the same period the previous year, with sales from its stores up 25% to £215.2m and wholesale revenue surging 43.8% to £118.8m.The weakness in the pound contributed approximately one-third to revenue growth.Retail like-for-like-sales rose 12.8% and online participation as a percentage of total retail revenue growing to 21.6% from 19.2% a year before.Underlying profit before tax rose 8.8% to £21m and underlying basic earnings per share gained 5% to 21.0p.Although underlying cash flow plunged to just £1.2m from £35m and the net cash position dwindled to £40.4m due mainly to high level of working capital investment, the interim dividend was lifted 25.8% to 7.8p.Chief executive Euan Sutherland said management was confident full year underlying pre-tax profits would be in line with expectations."The first half year has seen further good progress with a strong sales performance in all channels, particularly wholesale," he said."This converted to profitable growth after continued investment in both expanded distribution capability and in our development markets."