Björn Borg's sales for the first quarter jumped by 11.2 percent to 188.2 million Swedish kronor (€17.5m-$19.5m), boosted by a favorable currency exchange rate. In constant currencies, sales were up by 7.1 percent.
The company said these were record revenues and that its sports fashion collection had been particularly well received, with online sales growing by a whopping 100 percent, driven by both women's and men's apparel. Overall e-commerce sales jumped by 48.9 percent to SEK 53 million (€4.8m-$5.4m).
The management pointed out that it is seeing an overall trend toward fewer visitors at physical stores, but at the same time, higher average transactions. Comparable stores sales declined by one percent in the company's own stores, but good cost controls and lower discounts meant that they were more profitable than in the year-ago quarter. As of March 31, 2019, there were a total of 35 Björn Borg stores, down from 39 in the first quarter of 2018, and 30 of them were directly operated by the company.
Some markets stood out during the quarter including Germany, where the company saw a 78 percent growth. Björn Borg also recorded good growth in Sweden and the Netherlands.
The gross profit margin inched down by 0.3 percentage points to 56.8 percent, due to a stronger dollar and euro. Net profit rose by 13.4 percent to SEK 16.9 million (€1.6m-$1.8m).
