Esprit sales still falling but like-for-likes are heading upwards

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 6, 2019

Times remain tough at fashion retailer Esprit with the company’s first quarter, the period to the end of September, seeing revenue down by a hefty 10.8% to HK$2.85 billion (€0.32bn/£0.28bn).

Although it reports in Hong Kong dollars, the heart of its business is focused on Europe and the company said that its core Europe revenues, which make up 94% of its total turnover, were down by as much as 7.4% to $2.67 billion. This came on the back of reductions in store numbers as it had cut stores in Europe by 28 to 243.

On the like-for-like sales front in Europe, it saw very patchy performances during the summer and early autumn, although the overall figures did give it some hope for the future of its turnaround. European like-for-like sales fell a large 10.5% during July, but they grew 2% in August and 0.3% in September. Those last two months may not have been enough to counteract that big fall in July, but at least the figures are heading in the right direction.

However, the total sales figures in Asia were less encouraging due to the company having closed a large number of shops there. Its revenues in the region plummeted by almost 44% to $175 million. That was because it had closed 72 shops over the previous year and only operated 167 during the first quarter.