Shares in unloved retailer Quiz (QUIZ:AIM) rebounded the best part of 40% to 14.95p after the fast fashion brand said it expected to report a return to profit for the year to March 2022, its first annual profit in three years.
At the height of the pandemic, Glasgow-based Quiz faced the twin challenges of its stores being shuttered and its customers being stuck in lockdown, meaning they stopped dressing to impress.
But with a boost from the return of social occasions, total sales for the year to March 2022 came in ahead of expectations at around £78 million, nearly double the £39.7 million delivered in the prior year, as the positive momentum seen over Christmas continued through the final quarter of its financial year.
BACK IN THE BLACK
The purveyor of occasion wear and dressy casual wear is now guiding to EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of ‘no less than £4.3 million’ and pre-tax profit of ‘no less than £500,000’ for the year to March just ended.
Quiz explained the ‘encouraging momentum’ witnessed in the final quarter was achieved across its brick and mortar stores, portfolio of concessions and online business, returning like-for-like sales to levels not seen since before the pandemic.
MARGIN RECOVERY
The AIM-listed retailer also highlighted a recovery in gross margin across the year, thanks to strong full-price sales of its trademark occasion wear and dressy casualwear products as the lifting of Covid restrictions allowed social occasions such as weddings and holidays to return.
Having closed the year with £4.2 million net cash in the coffers, Quiz assured investors it was ‘encouraged by the positive performance delivered during the year’, which highlighted ‘the strength and awareness of the QUIZ brand and the growing customer demand for its trademark dressy and occasion wear offering’.
The board also said it was ‘confident in the group’s continued profitable revenue growth’.
