Price-conscious customers left the German perfumery chain Douglas facing a decline in profits in its day-to-day trading over the Christmas period.
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According to preliminary figures, sales in the first financial quarter to the end of December rose 1.7% year on year to 1.67 billion euros, the company said in Düsseldorf on Monday. However, the operating margin before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation, and special items (adjusted EBITDA) was only 19.9%. A year earlier, this margin was 21.5%. Analysts, on average, had expected 20.8% this time.
Douglas attributed the development to shoppers paying close attention to prices when making purchases. While the key “Singles’ Day” and “Black Week” promotions performed relatively well, they also brought forward purchases for Christmas.
Douglas CEO Sander van der Laan continues to expect sales of 4.65 to 4.8 billion euros for the current financial year to the end of September. The adjusted operating margin is expected to be around 16.5%. The SDax-listed company plans to publish its final figures for the first financial quarter on February 11.
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