RNB Retail & Brands posts fall in Q2 sales and operating income

By

Cajsa Lykke Carlson

Published
Mar 24, 2016

RNB Retail & Brands, the Swedish fashion and retail brand house that owns the Brothers and Polarn O. Pyret brands, saw a "mixed development" in Q2 2015/16.

Like-for-like sales in Sweden fell by 0.8% in Q2, and net sales were down 1% to 573m SEK in the period. Operating income declined from 17m SEK to 1m SEK, and the company reported a loss after tax of 5m SEK.

President and CEO Magnus Håkansson stated: "It is gratifying that Brothers is continuing its strong performance with sales growth of 5.8 percent during the quarter, which is the sixth consecutive quarter that Brothers performs better than the market. Departments & Stores also developed favourably and delivered a very positive result, driven by strong sales during the Christmas season."

However, he said he wasn't satisified with the earnings trend during the second quarter, which was "almost exclusively" related to Polarn O. Pyret's performance. The company has begun a comprehensive overview of Polarn O. Pyret's operations and today announced the acquisition of the brand's master franchise business in Finland.

The company also released figures for the half year period between September 1 2015 and February 29, 2016. It said like-for-like store sales rose 5.1% in the period and net sales rose by 3.8% to 1.1bn SEK. However, profit after tax fell from 45m SEK to 26m SEK and operating income was down from 40m SEK to 30m SEK.