Bjorn Borg gets boost from sports fashion line and digital

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 15, 2019

Björn Borg had a good first quarter of the year with its net sales up as much as 11.2% to SEK188.2 million ($19.5 million), although without positive currency effects kicking in, the increase would have been a lower 7.1%.

Either way, it was a record first-quarter figure for the firm and it said that its sports fashion collection had been particularly well received. The quarter also saw the company driving its fashion collection e-tail sales up 100%, which is pretty impressive. 

We’re used to businesses reporting high double-digit e-commerce increases, but for the figure to double in just a year is some feat and it was driven by both its men’s and women’s offer.

Overall e-commerce net sales didn’t rise quite as much as those for that fashion collection, but on a 48.9% increase, they too were strong, reaching SEK53 million.

However, there was one negative side to the report with the gross profit margin dipping to 56.8% from 57.1%, but that didn’t seem to dent the headline profits figures. Operating profit rose to SEK18.5 million from SEK 15.1 million and net profit rose to SEK16.9 million from SEK14.9 million.

CEO Henrik Bunge highlighted the importance of the digital trend and the need to make stores more appealing as he said that important parts of the firm’s target market spend around three hours a day on social platforms, as well as extra time consuming digital media, and this is denting physical store visitor traffic. However, he said those who do turn up to its stores are spending more when they’re there.