Australia’s largest footwear retailer Accent Group will shutter 17 under-performing Glue stores as it aims to make the youth apparel brand profitable this financial year.
Accent — which is also behind The Athlete’s Foot, upmarket running shoe brand Hoka, HypeDC, Platypus and womenswear label Nude Lucy — revealed the store closures would hit full-year earnings by $14.2 million.
If it weren’t for this charge, Accent would be expecting group earnings for the past financial year to be in the range of $123.2m to $125.2m. Earnings before interest and tax for the full-year ended June 30 is now expected to be between $109m and $111m.
Glue has about 30 stores across South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. It is not yet known which of these stores will be affected.
The closures will result in the Glue business consisting of 18 stores, including digital. Despite the negative news, Accent shares are up 9.7 per cent to $2.15 at 10am.
Accent chief executive Daniel Agostinelli said trading conditions across the group improved in the second half of the year. For the full-year, total like-for-like sales are up 1.7 per cent on the prior year.
“I am pleased with our retail performance in H2 where the company continued to experience strong momentum in Skechers, The Athlete’s Foot, Hype DC, Stylerunner, Nude Lucy, and Hoka amongst others,” he said.
“The decision to exit the 17 under-performing stores will allow the Glue store management team to focus on a profitable business comprising 18 stores including digital.”
Accent will release its full-year results on August 23.
It was also bad news is good news for fellow retailer Dusk as a guidance and trading update for the past financial year lit a raging fire under its shares.
Total sales are expected to hit at about $126m, 8.2 per cent below the previous financial year results.
Underlying earnings are expected to be in the range of $6.2m to $6.4m, compared with the $16.5m the prior year. Dusk will release its full-year results on August 29.
Dusk chief executive Vlad Yakubson said it had been a time of transformation for the retailer.
“Looking ahead to FY25, we are in a strong financial position and our inventory is clean and well balanced,” he said.
“We continue to focus on delivering product innovation and the latest trends to our customers on a regular basis.”
Shares in Dusk were up 32.2 per cent to 78¢ at 10am.