Market Report: SuperGroup shoots up on stellar numbers

6 May 2015

Is Euan Sutherland’s turnaround at fashion retailer SuperGroup starting to bear fruit?

The former Co-op boss quit the “ungovernable” mutual last year and took up the challenge of breathing life into SuperGroup, which is best known for its Superdry hoodies and checked shirts, worn by the likes of David Beckham and brand ambassador Idris Elba.

His tenure started badly with a weather-related profits warning hitting its shares last autumn but today they rose more than 5% to 1061p after a second successive quarter of strong growth.

“A strong end to the year with a second quarter of double-digit retail like-for-like sales [growth] is the beginning of a more positive trend and should reassure that the brand remains in demand,” analysts at Investec said.

“We believe SuperGroup’s global growth opportunities continue to be undervalued and see material opportunity to improve UK efficiency and profitability in the short term.”

Overall, the FTSE 100 edged into positive territory ahead of tomorrow’s general election — up 19.00 points to 6946.58 — despite fears one of the closest political battles in recent memory could lead to chaos in the financial markets.

Christopher Mahon at Baring Asset Management said: “The [vote] is likely to have more impact on currencies than on the equity markets.

“This is somewhat similar to the scenario that occurred during the Scottish Independence vote, where the equity markets were relatively unmoved but the pound saw some big moves.”

Across the market, insurer Legal & General was one of the big risers after a resilient set of first-quarter results.

The company posted an 8% rise in net cash generation for the period ending March 31, although inflows to its asset management arm dropped. Its shares rose 3.3p to 260.6p.

Barrie Cornes at Panmure Gordon said: “In our view L&G remains well positioned for the challenges facing the UK life industry and with the shares having come off March highs, we view them as being attractively priced.”

Elsewhere in the sector, Prudential — publishing its last set of results under outgoing boss Tidjane Thiam — edged up 6p to 1618.5p as new business profits in its Asian business rose 22% to £309 million in the first quarter.

“It has been my pleasure and a privilege to lead Prudential,” said Thiam, who will be replaced by Mike Wells next month.

Market Report: SuperGroup shoots up on stellar numbers

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