Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1) shares will be on watch this morning as the company provided a trading update after yesterday's market close. At Thursday's closing bell, the Accent share price finished the day 1.26% lower at $2.35. It will be interesting to see which way the shoe retailer's shares move today after investors digest the company's latest results.
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How did Accent perform for H1 FY21?
The Accent share price will be in focus this morning following the company's release of a strong performance update for the first half of FY21.
For the period ending 27 December, Accent reported favourable trading conditions particularly in the last two months.
The company revealed that total sales jumped 12.3% and like-for-like (LFL) sales grew 7.4% in November and December. Overall, LFL sales delivered a 2.7% lift over the first half period. When factoring out the closure of Auckland, Victoria, and Adelaide stores, LFL sales growth recorded a 12.3% increase.
In addition, digital sales for the group set a record, up 110% to $108.1 million compared to the prior period. This segment reflected 22.3% of the entire group's sales.
As a result, Accent advised group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) will be between $95 million and $98 million. This reflects robust growth of around 40% to 45% on the prior comparable period.
In the release, Accent went on to mention that it continues to maintain disciplined cost controls to protect its balance sheet. The company also advised that rental reductions and government wage subsidies helped drive the first half's positive results.
Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, however, the retailer did not provide guidance for its second-half year result.
Management commentary
Accent Group CEO Mr Daniel Agostinelli touched on the company's effort, saying:
I am delighted with the way our team has executed through the all-important November cyber events and the lead up to Christmas. Our strong focus and capability in digital, combined with operational excellence in merchandise and store execution has delivered a strong, trading led result.
The Company's store network and best in class digital fulfilment capability, allowed us to fulfill significant volumes of online Christmas customer orders placed up until 22 December in time for Christmas Day.
Accent share price snapshot
Since March, the Accent share price has rebounded from its COVID-19 lows of 55.5 cents. It's also worth noting that Accent shares are currently trading just shy of their $2.41 all-time high reached on Wednesday this week.
Based on the current Accent share price, the company commands a market capitalisation of around $1.27 billion.
