SuperGroup gets its sums wrong

SuperGroup, which has 76 Superdry and Cult stores including branches in Hull, Leeds, Sheffield and York, warned that profits will be much lower than the City expected.

The company said arithmetic errors in its forecast for the wholesale business amounted to £2.5m of the profit shortfall.

A spokesman for the company attributed it to “human error”.

“A number in their forecast was in with the wrong sign on it. There should have been a negative, there was a plus. That clearly makes quite a big swing,” he said.

The warning follows a profit downgrade last October, which was blamed on the botched implementation of a warehouse IT system upgrade that left stores short of stock.

SuperGroup, whose clothes are a favourite of celebrities such as David Beckham, Leonardo DiCaprio and Pippa Middleton, said it now expects to make pre-tax profits of about £43m for the year to April 29, compared with the £50m predicted in February.

The company said that the rapid growth of the business made it difficult to predict demand and stock levels, causing a further £2m of sales to fall outside this financial year.

Matthew McEachran, a retail analyst at Singer Capital Markets, described the update as the “latest calamity” for the company.

He said: “We had put faith in the growth story, but are placing our estimates and recommendation under review after this latest issue.”