Accent Group avoids board spill, delivers sales growth

Accent Group acquired the online athleisure retailer Stylerunner in 2019. (Source: Supplied.)

Sales across Accent Group’s brands have grown 1.3 per cent in the first 20 weeks of the new financial year, while digital sales more than doubled.

Excluding the impact of Victoria and Auckland’s lockdowns like for like sales grew 15.7 per cent, and with the reopening of both cities trading is ahead of CEO Daniel Agostinelli’s expectations.

For all the good news, however, the board managed to avoid a spill after the business’ AGM delivered a second strike against its’ remuneration report.

Shareholders have expressed their unhappiness with Accent Group’s pay in recent years, with 54 per cent voting down the business’ remuneration report this year but 95 per cent voting against a spill.

“We’re pleased with the strong trade to date and delighted with the performance of our new stores in Stylerunner and Pivot,” Agostinelli said.

“Our plans are well set to capitalise on the important November cyber events, Christmas and back to school trading periods. Our integrated omnichannel model has allowed us to trade strongly through a highly disrupted period along with demonstrating operating capability to respond to store impacts that may arise due to Covid-19, including the current Adelaide lockdown.”

This lockdown, Agostinelli said, is unlikely to have a material impact on the company given its store footprint and demonstrated pivot to online – which has grown sales 129 per cent compared to last year.

Additionally, the business’ newest brands, Stylerunner and Pivot, are progressing well. Stylerunner has launched its first store, with an additional 3 stores to come, while Pivot has launched 3 and has an additional 15 on the way.

In total, the business expects to launch 80 new stores, including new concepts, in FY21.

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