Americana fashions European growth
AMERICANA International, the Manchester company behind the Bench fashion brand, has posted a double-digit hike in sales and profits as its push into Europe continued to bear fruit.
Ardwick-based Armericana, which is owned by private equity group HgCapital and led by former Umbro boss Peter McGuigan, said growth in Europe had helped it offset a fall in sales in the UK.
In the year to June 26 Americana grew sales by 11% from £109m to £120.6m, while profits jumped 28.5% to £21.8m. While UK sales slid 14% from £68.9m to £59m, trade in Europe – mostly wholesale business – soared from £38.8m in 2009 to £59.4m, newly-filed accounts reveal.
Declaring itself “pleased” with the performance during the year, Americana said the UK business – where it has more than 30 Bench shops and a further 10 concessiosn within House of Fraser stores – “continues to feel the effect of difficult economic conditions.”
DIrectors said they had also taken steps to mitigate the dip in wholesale sales in the UK by opening a number of designer outlet stores.
Bench is now an international brand and has stores as far afield as South Africa, Canada and Croatia.
Accounts for parent company Americana International Holdings reveal a loss after interest payments of £4.7m against £9.6m the year before. Ebitda, the key indicator for private equity- owned companies rose from £20.6m to £26.6m.
The figures also show that £16.4m of bank debt was repaid in July, reducing bank borrowings from £78.8m to £59.3m.
