Fat Face's full-year sales grow as expansion continues

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Sep 15, 2016

UK-based lifestyle clothing and accessories retailer FatFace generated £220.7m in sales in the year to 28 May 2016, representing a 7.4% increase year-on-year.

The company opened 12 new stores in the UK and 3 new locations in the US in the period, and invested £10.1m on physical assets including a new 120,000 sq ft distribution centre scheduled to open at Dunsbury Hill Farm in Havant later this year.

FatFace’s e-commerce channel experienced a 20.6% sales growth, and now accounts for 18.1% of all sales.

Despite the sales growth, investments and currency rates hit the company’s EBITDA, which fell to £33.5m from £36.5m in 2015.

“Investment in the business combined with the dollar strengthening against the pound and the clothing sector trading through an unexpectedly warm and wet autumn 2015, adversely impacted our EBITDA. Nevertheless, we maintained our full price stance through the Christmas trading period and delivered sales growth in all channels across the 12 month period,” said Anthony Thompson, Chief Executive of FatFace.

“As a number of major investment projects are nearing completion we are now entering a new period of expansion for the company. We now have even greater physical and IT capacity to drive our multichannel and international ambitions and are primed for further growth in sales and EBITDA," he added.

The retailer has 228 stores in the UK, Ireland and United states, located in market towns, holiday locations, high street shopping centres and high footfall travel hubs. The company offers own brand collections across womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, footwear, and accessories.