Premier Investments shares lift following ‘dividend surprise’
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More news: Shares in Premier Investments lifted in morning trade after it declared a larger-than-expected final dividend, despite profit falling 22% when excluding the contribution of businesses that were sold to Myer at the end of January 2025.
At 11:07am AEST, shares in Premier Investments had lifted 1.5% to $20.68.
Jarden analysts said that the 50 cents per share final dividend was ahead of the 34 cents per share consensus. They also said that retail sales growth of 1% was ahead of Jarden and market consensus expectations.
The analysts noted that the net profit after tax figure, when excluding the contribution of Apparel Brands, was “broadly inline with market”. They also flagged a strong balance sheet and “dividend surprise”.
While the analysts were pleased to see “second-half Smiggle trends improving”, they warned that “Smiggle challenges remain and we may see modest consensus downgrades owing to a softer start to FY26 in Smiggle and potential [Peter Alexander] UK losses for FY26”.
Premier Investments' full-year profit lifts 31%
The news: Premier Investments has delivered a 31.1% year-on-year increase in net profit after tax. This includes the contributions of Apparel Brands, which was sold to Myer in January 2025.
The numbers: In the year to 26 July 2025, Premier Investments posted net profit of $338.2 million, which is 31.1% higher than the $257.9 million delivered in the previous corresponding period.
When considering the Peter Alexander and Smiggle businesses, as well as Premier’s holdings in Breville Group, profit from continuing operations after tax fell 22.5% from $185.9 million to $144 million.
Retail sales for continuing operations, excluding Peter Alexander UK, grew by 0.9% to $812.2 million year-on-year. Peter Alexander, excluding the UK brand, hit record sales of $548 million, up 7.7%, while Smiggle sales fell $264.2 million, down 10.7%
Premier also declared a final fully franked FY25 ordinary dividend of 50 cents per share, which was lower than the 70 cents declared in the previous corresponding period.
The context: The net profit figure is inclusive of continuing operations, equity accounted investment in Breville Group, the results of Apparel Brands for the first half of FY25 and equity accounted investment in Myer, net profit on the disposal of discontinued operations and holdings of Myer shares, and one-off costs from the sale of Apparel.
Premier sold Apparel Brands, which includes Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Jacqui E, Portmans and Dotti, to Myer on 26 January for 890.5 million of new Myer shares.
All of Premier’s shares in Myer were distributed to Premier shareholders in February 2025, at a rate of 7.2021 Myer shares per Premier share owned. This was valued at $1.03 billion.
For the first six weeks of the first half of FY26, Premier said Peter Alexander sales were up 9.2% and Smiggle sales were down 4% on the previous corresponding period. Smiggle was impacted by “an isolated shipping line delay” which delayed the launch of new products in Australia.
What they said: “The Premier Retail team continues its operational focus on ensuring a smooth transition under the Transitional Services Arrangement that currently supports the Apparel Brands, now owned by Myer,” Premier Retail interim CEO John Bryce said.
“As part of this process the teams are focused on tailoring and separating systems, processes and expertise required to place Premier Retail in the best position to maximise future EBIT growth for these two unique global high-margin brands.”
