Bestseller reveals "unsatisfactory" FY results

By

Cajsa Lykke Carlson

Published
Nov 30, 2015

Bestseller, the Danish brand house that has labels like Vero Moda and Jack & Jones under its umbrella, said its full-year 2014/15 results were "unsatisfactory."

Its annual report shows a turnover of €2.93bn and a result before tax of €134m. “An 8% increase in turnover and a EUR 134 million result signify that we are in no way living up to our expectations. It is unsatisfactory and not at the level, where our company needs to be,” says Anders Holch Povlsen, CEO and sole owner of the company.

He added: “We haven’t been good enough at managing our buying activities, and our retail operations have not been profitable in several markets. Our cost levels are too high when it comes to personnel costs and other operating costs. The fact that we have only performed a partial hedging of the US dollar has also had a negative effect on this year’s result.”

The company is seeing positive tendencies in Southern and Central Europe, but suffers a loss on its retail operations in the Middle East, the UK and Canada. Bestseller's development on the Scandinavian markets has also been unsatisfactory, it revealed.

Bestseller has already initiated a more strict management of its operations and costs through its ‘Fit for Fight’ internal initiative, launched in February 2015. It now intends to streamline its operations and organization and simplify its processes.

“For the financial year 2015/16, we expect a result before tax of EUR 268 million through a continued progress and a concentrated effort from every single one of us in Bestseller,” Anders Holch Povlsen finishes.