Rip Curl and Kathmandu owner KMD Brands has arrested a downturn in trading over the Black Friday and the Christmas sales period, but the group faces a steep fall in first-half earnings from clearance items and cost pressures.

Its two key brands reclaimed sales growth, the dual-listed company said in a trading update on Friday. Sales at surf brand Rip Curl in the key months of December and November gained 2.2 per cent, an improvement on the 6.7 per cent slide in the first three months of the financial year.