At the Premier Investments AGM last week, chairman Solomon Lew called its sleepwear brand Peter Alexander as a “standout performer” and highlighted the fact that it achieved a record $508.6 million in annual sales, up 6.2% on FY23.

However, what Premier failed to note was the brand’s shaky start in Britain, with sales from its three maiden stores reportedly trading 61.6 per cent below budget, according to leaked internal documents obtained by The Australian.

Lew at the AGM said that there was opportunity for 10 more Peter Alexander stores in the UK in the short term. However, the international expansion plans of Peter Alexander and Smiggle are believed to be under pressure.

The leaked documents show that Peter Alexander had a budget of £1.155m ($2.28m) of sales in Britain since its launch in November – but has instead achieved sales of only £443,437 between November and last weekend to be 61.1 per cent under budget.

All three Peter Alexander stores in the UK are struggling. Its store at White City, London, is 69 per cent below budget; the Bluewater shopping centre store is 65.2 per cent under budget; and the Peter Alexander store at Stratford is currently sitting at £76,016 in sales as of midnight last Saturday, to be 78.5 per cent below its sales budget of £353,703.

Lew noted at the AGM that Smiggle delivered global sales of $296 million for FY24. But Smiggle is also struggling in Britain. Sales between August and last weekend were down 12.2 per cent on the same period last year, to be as much as 18.8 per cent, or millions of pounds, below budget forecasts.

 

A statement from a Premier Investments spokesman regarding the leaked sales figures termed them as “incomplete, selective and misleading”.

“They refer to a budget set well ahead of this financial year. Premier does not manage its business to these numbers, but rather to a broad range of metrics and what it sees in the market as the season evolves,” said the spokesperson.

Myer has agreed to buy Apparel Brands’ Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Dotti and Jacqui E from Premier Investments. Premier and Myer entered into a binding Share Sale and Implementation Agreement, whereby Myer would acquire the Apparel Brands business from Premier, in exchange for 890.5 million new, fully paid ordinary shares in Myer.

Peter Alexander and Smiggle will remain under the ownership of Premier where Lew noted that there will be a “dedicated focus on the significant local and international growth opportunities for these unique brands.”

The internal documents show that all of the group’s other fashion and retail brands in Australia such as Just Jeans, Portmans, Dotti, Jacqui E and Jay Jays are also missing budget targets and are facing negative sales growth compared to the same period last year.

The documents reveal that Australian sales at Just Jeans between August and midnight last Saturday are down 4.1 per cent, or $3.88m below last year and 7.4 per cent under management budget.

The Australian sales for Jacqui E are down 3.3 per cent since August, and 5.6 per cent below budget, and its Australian stores Smiggle have witnessed a 9.8 per cent sales decline over approximately the last four months to be 14 per cent or $6.2m behind internal management budgets.

Portmans’ local sales of $53.128m for the period are down 1.1 per cent for the season to date, or 4.9 per cent below budget; Jay Jays’ local sales are negative 3.4 per cent for the period or 4 per cent under management budget; Dotti sales of $35.823m season to date are down 2.2 per cent or 3.6 per cent behind budget.

At the AGM, Lew acknowledged that the last financial year was a difficult one. “The 2024 financial year will be remembered as a very challenging year. Consumers in all our markets faced high interest rates, high inflation and significant cost of living pressures. Against this backdrop Premier delivered a strong result, reporting a statutory Net Profit after Tax of $257.9 million down 4.85% on last year.”