Universal Store shines in delayed ASX debut

The collapse of the trading platform on Monday allowed the clothing retailer’s shares to list but left investors unable to buy and sell the stock.

Wrap frill summer dress, Universal Store

Universal Store was finally able to trade its shares on the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday after the embarrassing collapse of the trading platform on Monday allowed the clothing retailer’s shares to list but left investors unable to buy and sell the stock.

As trading resumed on Tuesday, shares in Universal Store opened at $4.34 against an initial public offer price of $3.80, representing a 14 per cent gain. The stock later closed at $4.50, with 5.3 million shares traded through the day.

Universal Store chief executive Alice Barbery was not flustered by the delayed $280m debut and told The Australian she was focused on growing the business at one of the most difficult times for the fashion sector as well as preparing for the Christmas rush.

“For me my job has always been very clear. I spent my morning with area managers … we have our strategy and we will stick to that,’’ she told The Australian.

Universal Store started its path towards an IPO in February but was forced to pull the pin due to the coronavirus pandemic. But Ms Barbery remains upbeat about the future of fashion retail even in the worst trading conditions in decades after Australia entered a recession.

“One of the key questions I was being asked by those who are clearly sceptical about fashion retail was: ‘Sure, everything is going well, but how would you handle a crisis?’

“Well, so I have been in retail for almost 30 years now and we handled the biggest crisis I have ever experienced and we handled it quite masterfully. And I thought I will never have a better time to demonstrate their greatest fear is something we handled really well.”

Ms Barbery said because of Universal Store’s fast-fashion and close-to-customer strategy it was able to respond nimbly and quickly, on a daily basis.

“So all we had to do was slightly speed up and intensify the process that we already have in place,” she said. “We didn’t have to completely reinvent ourselves to cope with the incredible pivot that needed to occur.

“Then it became a product issue: can we actually get stock out of China.”

She said Universal Store had to close some of its stores and its customers switched to online where they were demanding casual, stay-at-home clothes.

“But in Western Australia they were saying ‘what coronavirus?’ And they wanted silky dresses and we were able to provide that. And so it was that fast close-to-market strategy that we accelerated but we didn’t have to reinvent anything.”