Dr Martens has released its first half results for the six months to 30 September 2023 and issued a profit warning. Sales dropped by 5 per cent to £395.8m, primarily driven by weakness in USA wholesale and profit before tax fell 55 per cent to £25.8m. EBITDA also fell by 13 per cent.
Kenny Wilson, CEO, Dr Martens said ” We saw a mixed trading performance in the first half of the year. We made good progress with our strategic priorities, continuing to invest in the business and our people to drive sustainable long-term growth. During the period we focused on controlling the controllables: we delivered significant supply chain savings, successfully transformed our North America distribution network, opened 25 new stores, and launched a Dr. Martens UK repair service. The DOCS strategy of brand control and prioritising more profitable sales via our own stores and websites continued to deliver, with Direct to Consumer revenues up 11 per cent in constant currency, representing half of Group revenues.”
We saw a continued strong DTC performance in EMEA and APAC. In the USA, where there is an increasingly difficult consumer environment, our results have been more challenged, led by weakness in wholesale. We have strengthened the Americas leadership team and they are taking action, including refocusing marketing and improving our ecommerce trading capabilities. It is likely, however, that given the challenging backdrop it will take longer to see an improvement in USA results than initially anticipated. Notwithstanding the clear challenges we face in the USA market we remain very confident in our iconic brand and the significant growth opportunity ahead of us.
I am delighted that I’ll be joined by Giles Wilson as Chief Financial Officer and Ije Nwokorie as Chief Brand Officer in the new year, bolstering our leadership team. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the dedicated and passionate people of Dr. Martens for their exceptional hard work in H1 and their continued support as we enter the busiest period of the year.”
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