Disappointing shoe sales
The fashion company’s total turnover grew 5.9 % to 870.6 million euro in 2014, but it did rack up a 101.6 million euro loss over the same time frame. The Scapino, Manfield, Brantano and Jones Bookmaker owner had to perform huge write-offs on Scapino’s and Brantano’s worth. By comparison, its 2013 net loss was ‘only’ 12.1 million euro.
Its Fashion branch managed turnover growth from 640.3 million euro to 678.7 million euro. Offline sales grew 3.4 %, but its online sales grew an astounding 42.6 %. Shoe sales dropped in the September-November period, mostly because of the warm autumn weather. Fashion turnover only grew 2 % in the fourth quarter, compared to a 7.6 % growth in its first three quarters.
Discard Living and leave United Kingdom
Its Living branch also managed to grow turnover, up 5.6 % to 191.9 million euro. Nevertheless, Macintosh still wants to sell its Kwantum stores, a move it has initiated in the first quarter of this year.
The company also wants to focus entirely on its Benelux operations, meaning it will pull out of the United Kingdom – where it currently has some 300 Brantano and Jones Bookmaker stores. The sale of these stores should help clear some debts.