Madrid, 13 November 2017 – Grupo Cortefiel, a leading international fashion retailer, today announced strong operating and financial results for the first half of its financial year, which runs from 1 March to 31 August 2017^[1]

Over the six-month period, revenue was up 5.9% year on year to 563.6 million euros, underpinned by continued growth in sales across all brands, markets and channels and particularly the outstanding performance of the e-commerce segment.

Recurring EBITDA grew by 134.9% to 85.4 million euros, compared to 36.4 million euros reported in the first half of the 2016/17 financial year. Recurring EBITDA LTM^[2]  was up 73.2% from 94.5 million euros in August 2016 to 163.7 million in 2017.

This improved EBITDA came on the back of the total sales growth highlighted above, coupled with a 4.1 percentage point hike in gross margin and a 3% year-on-year reduction in operating costs.

	March-August 2017/18	March-August 2016/17	% change
Income	€563.6m	€532.1m	+5.9%
Gross margin	€349.2m 62%	€307.9m 57.2%	+13.4% +4.1pp
Recurring EBITDA	€85.4m	€36.4M	+134.9%

Grupo Cortefiel CEO Jaume Miquel said: “The strong performance of like-for-like sales, the improved gross margin across all brands and the successful reduction of costs all clearly reflect the positive response to the Strategic Plan rolled out as of September 2016.”

By channels, total e-commerce sales were up 28% year on year, with all brands reporting growth of over 20% in sales through this channel between March and August.

Member numbers for the group’s clubs and cardholder programmes, which are a crucial component of its business strategy, were up almost 10%, to 21.2 million customers across all of the groups brands. Total club sales were up by 7.4%.

In relation to this area, Jaume Miquel said: “The added emphasis on our online business and cardholder clubs is a core component of our strategy, not only as a means of increasing sales but also with a view to deepening the emotional ties between our members and each of our brands.”

The first half of the financial year saw new points of sale open across various markets such as France, Spain, Belgium, Russia and Mauritius, as well as Grupo Cortefiel’s debut in the Indian market.

As at 31 August, Grupo Cortefiel had a sales network comprising 1,932 stores in over 80 countries, of which 1,166 are directly operated, 661 are franchises and 105 are corners.

Recent corporate milestones

In September, the relevant authorities approved the acquisition of Grupo Cortefiel by CVC and PAI, following the agreement reached for the joint acquisition of the Spanish group in June.

Also in September, Grupo Cortefiel successfully issued bonds worth a total of 600 million euros among qualified institutional investors. The bond issuance comprised two tranches: 275 million euros in 7-year senior secured notes and 325 million euros in 7-year floating rate senior secured notes. Following the transaction, the group’s debt will be paid down by approximately 40%.

[1] Grupo Cortefiel’s 2017/18 financial year runs from 1 March 2017 to 28 February 2018.

[2] LTM: Last Twelve Months