Premier Investments shareholders will pocket a bumper dividend for 2022 after the proprietor of the Smiggle and Peter Alexander manufacturers banked report gross sales of $1.5 billion for the yr.
The retailer’s chairman Solomon Lew stated it had managed to extend earnings throughout all of its manufacturers by 10.1 per cent on final yr to $335 million. The gross sales figures for the yr are greater than double of what Premier posted earlier than the pandemic.
Premier’s web revenue for the yr jumped 4.9 per cent to $285.2 million.
“That is testomony to the seamless management transition to [chief executive] Richard Murray, the unrelenting deal with execution by our administration group, and the dedication of our folks,” Lew stated.
The sturdy end result has meant Premier Traders will see a closing totally franked dividend of 54 cents per share, plus a particular dividend of 25 cents per share – pulling the overall yr’s payout as much as $1.25 per share. That’s a rise of 56.3 per cent on final yr.
The corporate has additionally determined to launch a $50 million on-market share buyback, which “recognises the numerous market volatility at current and can permit Premier to opportunistically and flexibly purchase shares which can in flip ship earnings per share accretion”, the corporate stated.
The ultimate and particular dividends can be paid out on January 25, 2023.
Gross sales on the youngsters’s stationery model Smiggle have rebounded strongly as youngsters returned to in-person studying, with the model delivering a 24.6 per cent enhance in world gross sales to $261.2 million.
“Australia and New Zealand model efficiency has been very sturdy, delivering complete and like-for-like gross sales development throughout each markets and all states for [the second half of 2022] and FY22,” the corporate instructed traders in a report on Thursday morning.