Dr Martens holds guidance as revenue, profits slump

(Sharecast News) - Troubled bootmaker Dr Martens on Thursday posted a bigger-than-expected fall in annual revenue and operating profit as its US woes continued but held guidance for the current year and announced a cost savings target of up to £25m. Revenue fell 12% to £877m against expectations of £900m, while operating profit plunged by a third to £122m compared with forecasts of £125m. Pre-tax profits were down 43% to £97m.

"Our 2024 results were as expected and reflect continued weak USA consumer demand. This particularly impacted our USA wholesale business and offset our group direct-to-consumer performance, where pairs grew by 7%," said outgoing chief executive Kenny Wilson.

"For the first half, we expect a group revenue decline of around 20%, driven by wholesale revenues down around a third."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com