LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - SuperGroup, the Britishcompany behind the Superdry fashion brand, is well placed toweather sterling's depreciation in the wake of the Brexit votethanks to its overseas expansion strategy, its boss said onThursday.
The firm, whose trademark jackets, hooded tops and joggingbottoms are popular with teenagers and twenty-somethings, hasover 660 stores and concessions across more than 50 countries aswell as an ecommerce business.
"The strategy remains unchanged largely because it was oneof diversification by channel, by geography and by category,"Chief Executive Euan Sutherland told Reuters after the firmreported a 16.3 percent jump in full-year profit and paid afirst special dividend, sending its shares up to 18 percenthigher.
The pound has tumbled to 31-year lows against the U.S.dollar since Britain voted on June 23 to leave the EuropeanUnion.
Sutherland said SuperGroup is hedged for the next 18 monthsbut will eventually face higher sourcing costs if the weaknessof sterling persists as about half of the goods it imports arepaid for in dollars.
However, the firm will benefit from a positive salestranslation effect because 55 percent of its revenue isgenerated outside the UK.
"I think relative to other players we're better placed," theCEO said, noting that SuperGroup's overseas exposure isincreasing.
In the 2015-16 year some 88 percent of SuperGroup's newspace was in western Europe.
"As we go into this financial year it's slightly lower inEurope but the remaining percentage is in the U.S., so we're notreally opening any more space in the UK," said Sutherland.
SuperGroup made a pretax profit of 73.5 million pounds ($97.9 million) in the year to April 30. That was at the top endof previous guidance. Full year revenue increased 21.3 percentto 590.1 million pounds, after fourth quarter revenue jumped 30percent.
The firm is paying an ordinary dividend of 23.2 pence and aspecial dividend of 20 pence reflecting "high confidence in ourbrand and our strategy."
Shares in SuperGroup, which had fallen 18 percent so farthis year prior to Thursday's update, were up 202 pence at 1,541pence at 12.51 GMT, valuing the business at 1.25 billion pounds.
($1 = 0.7511 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Adrian Croft)
