This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
PREMIER Investments chairman and billionaire Solomon Lew has called for a ban on unvaccinated customers from shopping centres, as Australia begins to grapple with the fineries of post-lockdown life.
Premier, owner of retail brands including Peter Alexander, Smiggle, Just Jeans, Dotti, Jay Jays and Portmans, yesterday unveiled a full-year profit that almost doubled to $271.8 million.
EBIT rose 88% to $351.9 million, in line with guidance. That was helped bigger margins due to less discounting, as Premier again touted the investment made in its own inventory and ownership of its distribution centre, allowing to have more control of stock supply.
Gross margin increased 331 basis points to 64.3%, delivering a $186.2 million or 25.1% increase gross profit for $927.9 million.
It also netted a near $30 million bevy in rent concessions arising from the pandemic.
Total sales for the year were up 18.7% to a record $1.4 billion, with like for like sales growth of 15.9%.
Clothing and pyjamas outperformed its stationary arm Smiggle as classes were held in the home across the globe. Sleepwear retailer Peter Alexander delivered record sales of $388.2 million, up 34.7%, while its five apparel brands saw a 25.3% increase in sales to $841.6 million
Online sales again played a key role in a strong result. Premier Retail delivered record online sales of $300.7 million, up 36.4%. The online business contributed 20.8% of total group sales, up from 18.1% the prior year.
Lew said yesterday that it is “our strong preference that the government mandates that all persons entering a mall be vaccinated and temperature checked”.
“It has to be controlled at the point of entry.
“The centre owners have an absolute responsibility to ensure that the venue is not only safe for the entire family shopping experience, but to ensure that our retail staff have nothing to fear by trying to earn a living working in retail stores.
Lew has played a combative role since the beginning of the pandemic, at the vanguard of tenants pushing for rent relief. The group controversially pocketed $70 million in JobKeeper benefits despite posting record results, before paying back the “net benefit” of $15.6 million it received.
The group’s has had 661 stores temporarily closed across Australia and New Zealand through the majority of the month of August and into early September due to Delta lockdowns, representing 56% of the global retail store network. It progressively been able to re-open over 170 of these stores in the past two weeks.
Credit Suisse analyst Annabelle Diamond did offer some concerns about the impact of lockdowns in a note yesterday.
“COVID-19 restrictions across parts of NSW and Victoria from July present some downside risk to guidance provided in June and are likely to have a negative impact on the first half,” Diamond said, adding that the lockdowns mean apparel retailers “effectively miss an entire season of in-store trading”.
“Extended periods of lockdown present inventory risk in the short-term for vertically integrated apparel retailers.”
Premier declared a final fully franked dividend of 46c per security, up 10 cps or 27.8%, taking full year dividends per share to 80 cps fully franked.
Myer is currently facing a monumental challenge from Lew and Premier Investments retail group. Lew, the major shareholder in the major department store, is looking to to put together enough numbers to replace a number of directors at an extraordinary general meeting.
