The Rip Curl, Kathmandu and Oboz footwear owner on Wednesday announced overall sales were up 34.5 per cent to $NZ547.9 million ($507m) for the six months to January 31. It made a net profit after tax of $NZ14m ($13m), compared to a $NZ5.1m ($4.7m) loss a year ago.
"For the first time since Rip Curl was acquired, the group has experienced a full 12 months of trade without significant interruption from the COVID pandemic, which resulted in group sales of over $1 billion," said CEO and managing director Michael Daly.
"Despite uncertainties in consumer outlook, all three of our brands – Rip Curl, Kathmandu, and Oboz – delivered strong sales growth in the half, and as a group we have improved our gross margin."
The company's gross margin improved 100 basis points to 58.7 per cent.
Kathmandu had $NZ194m in Australian sales, up 51.2 per cent from a year ago, but down from below the pandemic.
It had $NZ204.4m in sales in the first half of 2018/19 and $NZ196.5m in the first half of 2019/20.
KMD's total sales momentum remained strong in February, up 31.4 per cent from a year ago.
The company finished the first half with net debt of $84.9m, with funding headroom of over $NZ200m.
KMD declared a dividend of NZ3c a share, unchanged from last year.
At 3.37pm, KMD shares were up 0.5 per cent to 94.5c.
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