Sales at Tendam, the fashion chain that owns brands including Cortefiel, Pedro del Hierro, Springfield, Women’Secret and Fifty, declined by 3.8% to 221.3 million euros ($258m, £196m) in the first quarter of the year, between 1 March and 31 May 2018, compared with 230.3 million euros in the same period the prior year, announced the company in a statement.

The clothing company explained that the results were impacted by the early Easter, lower sales of summer products and negative currency effects.

Meanwhile, revenue for the past twelve months remained flat with respect to the comparable period, reaching 1.14 billion euros ($1.33bn, £1bn) against 1.15 billion euros in the same period last year.

Tendam’s chief executive Jaume Miquel said the company continued to execute its strategic plan by “increasing investment to support the brands, the digital transformation, the CRM system and the rapid expansion in key markets.”

“Efficient management has continued to be the basis of our performance, resulting in substantial improvements in margin and a decline in stock levels,” he said.

EBITDA stood at 18 million euros ($21m, £15.9m), down 19% from the 22.3 million it had posted in the first quarter of the previous year, while underlying EBITDA for the past 12 months reached 165.5 million euros ($193m, £147m).
ONLINE SALES ACCOUNT FOR 6.6% OF THE TOTAL

The group said its e-commerce channel enjoyed “strong growth”, after growing by 21.5% this quarter boosted by the group’s Cortefiel and Springield brands, which experienced growth of around 25%.

By the end of May, the online channel represented 6.6% of the total sales of Tendam, compared to 5.2% in the first quarter of last year.

Meanwhile, sales attributable to loyalty schemes accounted for 78% of total sales.

The CEO confirmed that, in the coming months, the company will seek to accelerate “key projects” in the areas of CRM to boost its personalisation, loyalty and multichannel capabilities. “We want to take the dialogue we have with our partners to a higher level of engagement, and we have the right tools and team to do that,” he said.

“In the digital area, we will expand our online presence to new strategic markets during the second half,” Miquel continued, adding that a click and collect service will also roll out in some of its directly-operated markets.

Tendam has launched an expansion plan that has seen the opening of 15 new stores during the first quarter of the 2018/19 financial year.

As of 31 May, the group had a total of 2,002 stores (compared to 1,988 in February), including 1,195 directly-owned, 690 franchised locations and 117 concessions – all spread across 91 countries.