KMD Brands Limited (KMD) Q2 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for today's presentation of KMD Brand's financial results for the first half of the 2025 financial year. My name is Michael Daly, and I'm the CEO of the group. I'm joined on the call by Ben Washington, our interim group chief financial officer. We will be talking through the presentation lodged on the NZX and ASX this morning. Unless otherwise specified, all financial numbers are in New Zealand dollars. Today we will begin with a summary of the key first half results. We will then discuss the group's financials and brand results. We'll conclude with a look at our focus areas, a trading update and our outlook. I will begin with a summary of the key first half results and an overview of our group. Onto slide four, while the profit result is not where we want it to be, we again demonstrated our ability to manage the controllables through challenging trading conditions. Gross margin was pretty resilient, operating expenses were tightly controlled, and we reduced inventory and networking capital year on year. Sales were 0.5% above the first half of last year, with an improving quarterly trend, especially in a direct-to-consumer channel for all three brands. Wholesale sales are taking longer to recover as wholesale accounts remain cautious on pre-season commitments. Group online sales performance has been a highlight with all three brands achieving double-digit sales growth year on year. We were able to hold the line on sales with resilience and gross margin. Gross margin decreased by 0.3% of sales year on year to 58.5% for the group, despite increased promotional intensity for Kathmandu and clearance of inventory for OBOS. Operating expenses were actively managed while facing global cost pressure. We continued to invest...