While major retailers such as Woolworths are cutting profit guidance, Pacific Brands now expects underlying earnings before interest and tax for the 12 months ending June to be between $63 million and $65 million, compared with previous guidance of $57.4 million to $63 million.
While this is well below 2014 EBIT of $91.2 million, the new guidance suggests that June-half earnings jumped about 25 per cent, from $25.9 million to around $32.5 million.
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The trading update also suggests that Pacific Brands may be in a position to restore dividend payouts sooner rather than later.
Legg Mason Asset Management analyst Jim Power said the profit upgrade came as a pleasant surprise.
"Everyone was so worried about the currency moving so aggressively against them and thought they couldn't protect their profit by increasing prices and there was some scepticism about how well their retail stores would go," said Mr Power.
"They will hopefully resume dividends at some point in time but I don't think it's an immediate priority," he said.
PBG Price at posting:
45.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held