Pester power: Stationery superbrand Smiggle to step-up global rollout

It’s the Aussie stationery superbrand known for inducing fits of pester power. And now parents in 10 more countries will be on the receiving end as its global march continues.

Smiggle is launching in another 10 countries. Picture: AAP Image/Daniel Munoz

PREMIER Investments will roll Smiggle into 10 more countries in Asia, Europe and North America, giving 775 million new customers access to the pester-power superbrand.

The move — increasing the potential customer base for the children’s stationery retailer more than six-fold, to 920 million — comes as it halts the rollout of stand-alone stores in Britain as shoppers there tighten the purse strings amid Brexit chaos.

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Premier today unveiled a record first-half profit and dividend, fuelled by a turnaround in the performance of longstanding fashion chains Just Jeans, Portmans and Jay Jays.

The improved performance in fashion helped offset a sharp slowdown in Smiggle sales growth linked to the political turmoil in the UK.

Smiggle’s bright stationery is a hit. Picture: Tara Croser.

The Brexit saga, which handed Smiggle its slowest sales growth in a decade, has also prompted Premier to push back its goal to hit $450 million in annual sales by July 2020.

It now expects to hit that mark by December 2022.

“It’s like the teacher in class has got a cold and everyone else has caught one because of that,” Premier chief Mark McInnes told the Herald Sun.

“Brexit is a once-in-a-century event that happens to a country and we just happen to have caught the same cold as every other retailer in the country.”

Net profit at Melbourne-based Premier, backed by retail billionaire Solomon Lew, jumped to $88.8 million for the six months to January 26, up 13 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

Total sales rose 8 per cent to $680.2 million. Sales at Smiggle, the single biggest business unit in Premier, rose 4.7 per cent to $178.8 million. That rate of growth compares with a rise of almost 27 per cent in the same period a year earlier.

Singer Prinnie Stevens, flanked by models, wears the rock star label of pyjamas, Peter Alexander, which is also owned by Premier Investments.

Premier tweaked its global growth plan for Smiggle last year. It has pivoted from opening stand-alone stores to entering new markets by opening store-within-a-store concessions at retail outlets and by selling products on online retail platforms such as Amazon.

Premier today said Smiggle had struck partnerships with five major retailers in new offshore markets.

The brand will be sold in 100 stores across Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates from the middle of the year.

Smiggle, which was created in Melbourne early last decade, will launch in Canada later in the year, again through a local retail chain.

The Canadian launch, which will target three cities, will give Smiggle is first exposure to the massive North American market. Smiggle will begin selling in France, Italy, Germany and Spain through Amazon by July.

Premier Investments chief Mark McInnes and chair Solomon Lew.

Premier also expects to launch Smiggle in mainland China, either using an online retail platform such Alibaba or in third-party stores, within the next year, boosting its potential market dramatically.

“Smiggle is a truly global brand — this is a really big opportunity and we are just at the beginning of that,” Mr McInnes said.

Britain has become the single biggest market for Smiggle by store numbers. It had been targeting 150 stand-alone and concession stores there, and has 141 at the moment.

Premier’s fashion businesses, which had been buffeted by difficult retail conditions in recent years, put in strong performances the past six months.

Sales at Just Jeans jumped 14.3 per cent, Jay Jays put on 7.2 per cent and Portmans 5.8 per cent. Sales at pyjamas label Peter Alexander lifted 14.1 per cent.

Premier declared an interim dividend of 33c a share, fully franked, up 4c from a year ago.