The US lingerie supplier Victoria’s Secret & Co. presented mixed figures for the second quarter of the 2022/23 financial year on Wednesday evening. The company had to accept a drop in sales, and profit was additionally burdened by special costs as part of the recently presented restructuring program. The forecasts for the year were also rather cautious.
For the most recent quarter ended July 30, consolidated revenue was $1.52 billion, down 5.7 percent year-on-year, falling short of expectations. On a comparable basis, revenues fell by eight percent. The company justified the weak numbers with the fact that “customer traffic in the entire retail sector progressively deteriorated during the quarter.”
The result slipped even further. Operating profit fell by 51.9 percent to 97.5 million US dollars. Adjusted for restructuring-related one-off charges totaling $29.3 million, it was 37.4 percent below the level of the prior-year quarter. Net income attributable to shareholders fell 53.7 percent to $69.9 million.
The persistently weak general conditions characterized the annual forecasts, which fell well short of market expectations: For 2022/23, the company now expects a drop in sales by a mid to high single-digit percentage. The operating profit adjusted for special effects should therefore reach a level of 525 to 575 million US dollars.