Kathmandu update shows strength in core label and its Oboz buy

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 23, 2018

Shares in Kathmandu rose as much as 17% on Friday after the outdoor products specialist said it expects a “strong” improvement in its first-half earnings due to the recently-acquired US footwear business Oboz and the strength of its core business.

In the three months to October, Oboz sales were NZ$15.7 million with the gross margin being 39.8%, it said in a trading update.

And in the 15 weeks to November 11, Kathmandu sales excluding Oboz rose 8.4% currency-neutral while like-for-like sales were up 6.3%, with good demand for core Kathmandu products. The Australian operation was the top performer with like-for-like sales rising 7.1% there, while in New Zealand, they were up 5.2%.

"We have achieved good sales growth leading into the key Christmas trading period, and we expect first-half profit to be strongly above last year," CEO Xavier Simonet said in the trading update. "However, as always our first half-year result is highly dependent on the success of our summer sale.”

The company acquired Oboz in April for US$60 million as it sought to widen its product offer and increase its appeal internationally as its main focus had previously been three main markets.

Around two-thirds of group sales came from Australia in the year through July. It had 167 Kathmandu stores in Australia, New Zealand and the UK at that point.