Hallenstein margin recovery lifts profit; stock up

Hallenstein says margin recovery lifts annual earnings; stock jumps

August 6 (BusinessDesk) – Hallenstein Glasson Holdings, the clothing retailer, fattened its margins last year, helping lift profit by as much as 57%. The stock jumped to the highest in more than two years.

Pretax profit rose to between $28.3 million and $28.8 million in the 12 months ended August 1, the company said in a statement today. Sales growth was a milder 4.5% to $207 million.

“The increase in profit is directly attributable to an improvement in gross margin on sales,” the company said. “The improvement reflected “less aggressive discounting, an improvement in product offering and the strengthening New Zealand dollar.”

Hallenstein said it has “continued to make progress in the Australian market, with sales increasing 3.4% (in Australian dollars) over the past 6 months.” Total second-half sales climbed 2.3%.

The company is scheduled to release its full results in late September. Its shares rose 5.6% to $3.80.

(BusinessDesk)

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