“Prioritize higher market share”
Fashion turnover grew 4.3 % to 158.1 million euro, while the Living branch (currently only the Kwantum chain) even managed a 12.1 % turnover increase to 44.2 million euro. Online turnover reached 12.6 million euro, a 26.1 % increase compared to last year.
“Achieving top-line growth and a higher market share for Fashion took great priority in Q3. We were successful in both respects, thanks to more attractive product offerings, improved stock availability and a clearer positioning of our formats, combined with more marketing efforts. It was Fashion NL in particular that, driven by action programs, achieved a significant increase in turnover and gained considerable offline and online market share despite the Indian summer in September”, CEO Kurt Staelens said.
Warm weather caused loss
Its operational EBIT at – 3.2 million euro was slightly lower than the year before, mainly because of a 1.5 million euro Fashion loss, affected by the excellent weather in September.
Macintosh Retail Group is still working on a store improvement program, which has resulted in 7 store closures and the sale of 24 Belgian Scapino stores on 3 November. The group has also launched several new formulas.
CFO leaves company
Theo Strijbos will no longer be the company’s CFO on 1 November 2014, with Jeroen Seyger temporarily taking over. On 1 May 2015, Strijbos will leave the company entirely. He had been on Macintosh’s board since 2007 and helped refinance the company as its CFO, but now that that process has nearly finished, he will step down.
“The supervisory board appreciates Theo Strijbos’s performance and dedication in the past 7.5 years. His employment at Macintosh will be terminated at the end of his second 4-year period, which fits the tenure guidelines of our corporate governance code. The supervisory board wishes Theo Strijbos all the best at his future endeavours”, Henk van Dalen, chairman of the board, said.