UK shoemaker Dr Martens down at heel on profit warning

Shares in Dr Martens tumbled Thursday after the iconic British bootmaker issued a fresh profit warning alongside weaker-than-expected festive sales.

The group lowered its full-year guidance for both revenue and earnings in a trading update, blaming “significant operational issues” and “unseasonably warm weather” in the United States.

Revenues rose three percent at constant currency to £335.9 million ($414.2 million) in the three months to the end of December from a year earlier.

The gloomy news sent Dr Martens shares plunging more than 25 percent to 155.70 pence.

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This has followed big falls already since a stock market floatation in 2021 at 370 pence per share.

Chief executive Kenny Wilson insisted that demand remained “resilient” despite “challenging conditions”.

Warning

Dr Martens had already warned in November that its performance was marred by the cost-of-living crisis, as consumers tightened their belts in the face of decades-high inflation.

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“Dr Martens has been caught seriously on the back foot with operational problems at its new distribution centre in Los Angeles, piling yet more problems on the beleaguered bootmaker,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.

The famous maker of boots and shoes had seen its internet sales boom worldwide during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr Martens began life in 1959 as a tiny German company making orthopaedic boots.

© Agence France-Presse