Frasers lowers profit guidance as H1 sales fall 8.4%
The retail group also revealed that its pre-tax profits have fallen 33% to £207.2m during H1, which Frasers attributed to a decrease in foreign exchange
Frasers Group has lowered its profit guidance for FY25 to between £550m to £600m, having seen its sales fall by 8.4% to £2.45bn in the first half to 27 October.
This downgrade is from an earlier boundary of £575m to £625m, as Frasers noted that recent trading conditions have been “tougher” due to weak consumer confidence.
The retail group also revealed that its pre-tax profits have fallen 33% to £207.2m during H1, which Frasers attributed to a decrease in foreign exchange and the material decline in the Hugo Boss share price.
During the 26 weeks to October, Frasers has had a subdued performance across its entire retail division. Premium lifestyle sales fell by 14% to £472.7m, while UK sports retail slipped 7.6% to £1.37bn.
However, Frasers’ expanding property portfolio boosted sales for the division by 21% to £38m.
Michael Murray, CEO of Frasers Group, said: “The first half of this year has been another period of progress for the group, delivering on our objectives as the Elevation Strategy continues to take the business to the next level. Sports Direct UK delivered further sales growth, and our property and financial services divisions are seeing encouraging progress.
“We continue to operate with discipline to ensure our business is as resilient as possible – proactively right-sizing recent acquisitions to set them up for profitable long-term growth and driving further automation benefits to exceed our stock reduction targets for the period.”
Frasers Group expects to incur “at least £50m” worth of incremental costs going into its next financial year as a direct result of the autumn budget announcement.
