The benefits of strong sales from key brands Smiggle and Peter Alexander have been offset by one-off legal fees for Solomon Lew's retail group Premier Investments.
The group, which also owns Just Jeans, Portmans, Dotti, JayJays and Jacqui E, made a net profit of $71.9 million in the six months to January 28, up 0.5 per cent from the previous corresponding period.
Premier incurred legal costs of $3 million from its failed court action against former chief financial officer Nicole Peck in an attempt to stop her from jumping across to rival Cotton On.
The company said there was also one less week of trading in the half than the same period a year ago, though total group sales still rose 7.1 per cent to $588.6 million, and like-for-like sales were up 2.1 per cent on a constant currency basis.
Mr Lew, chairman of Premier Investments, says strong sales were achieved despite cool weather leading into summer, heavy discounting from rivals before Christmas and in January, an earthquake in New Zealand and a shopping centre collapse in Hobart that damaged some of its stores.
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"These results were achieved in a half that saw several Australian discretionary retailers go out of business whilst others have reported significant decline in earnings," he added.
Smiggle's global sales rose 26 per cent to $135 million, with almost 60 per cent of its sales now coming from overseas stores.
The children's stationery retailer opened 33 stores across the UK and in Asia in the half, and now has 129 stores in Australia and 143 stores in New Zealand, Singapore, England, Scotland, Wales, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Ireland's first Smiggle stores will open in May, and Premier plans to use that market as a gateway to the rest of Europe.
Premier plans to have between 320 and 330 Smiggle stores worldwide before Christmas, and it expects $200 million in annual sales in the UK by calendar 2019.
Shares in Premier were up six cents at $13.78 at 1300 AEDT.
SALES RISE AND PROFIT STEADY FOR PREMIER INVESTMENTS:
* Half year net profit up 0.5pct to $71.9m
* Sales revenue up 7.1ct to $588.6m
* Interim dividend up 3 cents to 26 cents
