Aritzia swings to Q2 loss, but revenues edge higher

Aritzia swung to a loss in the second quarter but still reported a small increase in revenue following two consecutive years of strong growth.

The Canadian womenswear brand made a net loss of 6 million Canadian dollars in the three months to August 27 compared to a profit of 46.3 million Canadian dollars a year earlier.

Meanwhile, revenue increased slightly by 1.6 percent to 534.2 million Canadian dollars - that’s compared to a strong prior-year period when revenue jumped 50 percent.

Revenue in the US, which now comprises 52.2 percent of overall revenue, rose 6 percent in the second quarter.

Overall comparable revenue fell 4.3 percent.

“As we highlighted last quarter, we believe our top line trend is being impacted by missed opportunities in the level of new styles in our product assortment as well as a mixed consumer environment,” said CEO Jennifer Wong in a statement.

“While our quarterly results do not meet our high standards, our performance was better than anticipated, and we made significant progress in executing against our fiscal 2024 priorities,” she said.

Based on its second-quarter performance, Aritzia now expects net revenue in the third quarter to be flat to slightly down on the prior-year period. That compares to strong growth of 50 percent in last year’s Q3.

For the full year, the company still expects revenue of between 2.25 billion dollars and 2.35 billion dollars, which would represent an increase of around 2 percent to 7 percent.

It expects gross profit margin to decrease by approximately 300 basis points compared to the prior year.