News

Sales at retail billionaire Solomon Lew’s stationery chain Smiggle have rocketed to a half-yearly record of $A170 million ($NZ182m) helping offset the weaker performance of the mid-market apparel brands owned by his company, Premier Investments.

Premier, Myer’s largest shareholder, on Friday reported its overall net profit had jumped nearly 10 per cent to A$78.6 million in the six months to January 27, from revenue of A$634 million, up 7 per cent.

Smiggle and popular pyjamas store chain Peter Alexander were the stand-out performers in Premier’s portfolio, which also includes Just Jeans, Portmans, Dotti, Jay Jays and Jacquie-E.

Premier Investments chiarman Solomon Lew.

Smiggle, with 332 stores spanning Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the UK and Ireland, recorded a 26 per cent increase in sales for the half, and opened 35 new stores globally. Premier said Smiggle was set to open its global flagship store on London’s Oxford Street in May and a store in the Netherlands in early 2019.

Peter Alexander’s sales were up 15 per cent for the half-year, to A$114 million, and the company opened 12 new stores, Premier said.

Premier’s retail chief executive, Mark McInnes, said the company had heavily invested in the “unique brands” of Smiggle and Peter Alexander.

“We identified in 2011 that Smiggle and Peter Alexander were unique brands with personalities driven by in-house design, research and innovation,” he said. “We set out to invest in these businesses and grow them aggressively.”

Sales slumped 3.6 per cent at Just Jeans, but Premier said the brand maintained a strong market position and sales were beginning to bounce back. The company said it was “extremely disappointed” in the performance of Dotti and believed it could do “much better”.