Profits slide at Oasis, Warehouse after owner calls off sale

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Nov 21, 2017

Fashion chains Oasis and Warehouse struggled to make money in the year to 25 February 2017, with both brands reporting a fall in profit just weeks after their owner called off a sale.

Oasis, the group’s high street womenswear brand, saw sales grow 1.3% to £151m during the period, but profit after tax dropped 52% to £2.9m, according to City AM.

Meanwhile Warehouse, which offers an edgier womenswear concept, reported a 13% decline in turnover to £106m, down from £124m the year before. The brand is trying to reinvent itself to regain its former popularity, but the efforts coupled with the sales fall meant it widened its pre-tax loss to £12.3m from £1.1m in the prior year.

Mid-market brand Coast also forms part of the portfolio. The brand, which is in the final year of a three-year turnaround plan, reported its best performance in five years, with profits rising from £1.4m to £2.9m, said City AM.

In its strategic statement, Coast said: "The business continued to maintain a tight, disciplined control of its cost base with further exits from loss-making stores.

"A good year of sales performance together with significant margin improvement and strong wholesale and franchise growth now gives Coast a very solid base from which to drive forward.”

Oasis, Warehouse and Coast are part of Aurora Fashions, a group which is majority-owned by the administrators of failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing. The group started looking for a buyer for the brands in 2016, but called off the sale last month after insisting the market “does not currently recognise the value” of the companies.