Matalan reports drop in Q1 revenue

British fashion and homeware retailer Matalan has reported an 8 percent drop in revenue in the first quarter, but gave an upbeat outlook on its full-year profit.

The company made revenue of 263.6 million pounds in the three months to May 27, down from 286.5 million pounds a year earlier.

Its EBITDA post adoption of IFRS 16 narrowed to 26.1 million pounds from 44.4 million pounds the prior year.

CEO Jo Whitfield said in a release: “The business had a challenging first quarter with cost of living pressure resulting in depressed consumer spending in discretionary categories. Unseasonal weather delayed a refresh of wardrobes for early Spring creating a tough start to the season.”

There’s been a lot of change at Matalan recently following its takeover by a group of lenders at the beginning of the year.

The retailer appointed a new CEO and chair in March. In the following months, the company hired a chief customer and omni-channel officer, chief trading officer, chief retail officer, and chief retail officer.

Matalan expects ‘strong’ year-on-year profit improvement

And the changes have reportedly already had an impact. Whitfield said the company has managed to reduce its cumulative EBITDA gap to last year from 18.1 million pounds to 2.9 million pounds.

“We are also confident of strong year-on-year profit improvement across the remainder of the year,” Whitfield said.

The company expects full-year EBITDA in the range of 60 million pounds and 65 million pounds, “driven by a strengthened leadership approach that is part of a wider program of transformation”.