Fast fashion group Quiz is set to return to profitability as the “encouraging momentum” reported in the run-up to Christmas continued into the first three months of this year.
The Glasgow-based retailer, which specialises in occasion and formalwear, said revenues for the year to March 31 should be ahead of expectations at £78 million. Profits before tax are forecast to be “no less” than £500,000.
Sales grew across its store and concession portfolio, as well as the group’s e-commerce website. Like-for-like revenues were broadly consistent with those generated in the year prior to the outbreak of Covid.
READ MORE: Quiz sales recover with return of socialising but Omicron remains a 'concern'
This performance contrasts with sales of just £39.7m in the same period a year ago, when Quiz suffered from the closure of non-essential retail stores and a lack of demand for dress clothes during lockdown. The decline in revenues left Quiz with an underlying loss of £9.6m before tax.
Although the group expressed “concern” in December about the potential impact of the emergence of Omicron variant of Covid, yesterday’s trading update made no reference to either the pandemic or the mounting cost-of-living crisis.
“Encouraged by the positive performance delivered during the year, which highlights the strength of and awareness of the Quiz brand and the growing customer demand for its trademark dressy and occasion wear offering, the board is confident in the group’s continued profitable revenue growth,” Quiz said.
READ MORE: Quiz salvages profit from the demise of Kast as sales plummet
Headed by founder and chief executive Tarak Ramzan, the group has more than 60 stores in the UK and Ireland. Its store portfolio was significantly overhauled following the decision in June 2020 to put Kast, a subsidiary that previously operated the stand-alone stores, into administration.
Following the closure of Debenhams and Outfit the number of Quiz concessions has fallen to approximately 70, with the majority operating out of New Look stores.
Shares in Quiz, which floated on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in 2017 at a price of 161p, closed yesterday’s trading 4.75p higher at 15.5p.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here