{"id":142396,"date":"2025-11-19T05:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T05:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/142396\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T05:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T05:08:08","slug":"kathmandu-owner-kmd-brands-tells-shareholders-it-paid-too-much-for-footwear-brand-oboz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/142396\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathmandu owner KMD Brands tells shareholders it paid too much for footwear brand Oboz"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe have taken steps to manage the cyclical downturn and market volatility we have seen in the last year, and to emerge more resilient and ready for our next phase of growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KMDKMD Brands group chief executive Brent Scrimshaw is continuing work his transformation agenda.<\/p>\n

The meeting was also the first for new chief executive Brent Scrimshaw, who was appointed late last year with the mandate to tackle legacy issues facing the company.<\/p>\n

Scrimshaw said Oboz was a small brand with big potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trail category is hot right now … under the KMD Brands Next Level plan, Oboz has a clear growth pathway,\u201d Scrimshaw said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re accelerating our product creation agenda to bring innovations to market sooner and expanding into new consumers and channels with upcoming \u2018vault\u2019 and \u2018all-terrain\u2019 styles. Oboz is well-positioned to grow, and the steps we\u2019re taking now are designed to unlock that potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

First-quarter result<\/p>\n

KMD Brands\u2019 total group sales for the 14 weeks ended November 2, 2025, were up by 7.9%.<\/p>\n

Scrimshaw said group sales results for the first quarter were encouraging and demonstrated some early-stage momentum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhilst growth is what we are committed to delivering, it\u2019s also crystal clear that we needed to immediately reset our cost base to deliver enhanced profitability, and at the same time self-fund future growth investments,\u201d Scrimshaw said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pleased with the progress we have made to date against our \u2018Next Level\u2019 transformation plan. We remain disciplined in our approach to strategic growth investments and reducing our net debt in FY26.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September, the group announced it had identified 21 stores for closure<\/a> in its network of more than 300 globally as part of a $25m cost-cutting drive.<\/p>\n

The company owns well-known brands including Kathmandu, Rip Curl and Oboz.<\/p>\n

Total sales for Kathmandu were up 13.9% in the quarter compared with the prior corresponding period. Rip Curl sales were up 6.6%, while Oboz sales were down by 1.3%.<\/p>\n

In terms of direct-to-consumer (DTC) same-store sales, Rip Curl was up 3% year on year, with Kathmandu up 14% year on year.<\/p>\n

Scrimshaw couldn\u2019t give specifics on the New Zealand market but said the business delivered \u201cencouraging first-quarter results\u201d.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s gross margin for the quarter was 55.8%, around 120 basis points lower year on year because of a continued focus by all three brands to sell through aged inventory and enhance their balance sheet position.<\/p>\n

However, gross margin in the quarter was above the margin in the second half of the 2025 financial year.<\/p>\n

KMD Brands has a three-year target to deliver 60% gross margin as a percentage of sales by July 2028.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s inventory balance at the end of October 2025 was $8m lower year on year, with forward wholesale order books remaining stable and slightly above last year.<\/p>\n

The group said it was on track to deliver annualised savings of $25m in FY26, resetting the cost base to mitigate cost pressure and to self-fund the \u2018Next Level\u2019 strategic growth plan.<\/p>\n

Of that $25m, $15m is set to be reinvested into the business over the medium term for product development, store formatting and performance marketing, with the remaining $10m to be saved to offset baseline cost inflation.<\/p>\n

Scrimshaw said the business was seeing some green shoots and was encouraged by the sales performance in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the group\u2019s first half results are dependent on the key Black Friday and Christmas retail trading periods to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.<\/p>\n

Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe have taken steps to manage the cyclical downturn and market volatility we have seen in the last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4765,4463,650,138,37462,40570,127,42565,2082,71,209,56387,702,36168,649,2374,5969,111,139,69,96379,2738,10142,21411,312,24035,26264,30203,6642,6173],"class_list":["post-142396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-annual","tag-brand","tag-brands","tag-business","tag-chairman","tag-considering","tag-despite","tag-footwear","tag-for","tag-from","tag-group","tag-isnt","tag-it","tag-kathmandu","tag-kmd","tag-meeting","tag-much","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-oboz","tag-owner","tag-paid","tag-pressure","tag-says","tag-selling","tag-shareholder","tag-shareholders","tag-tells","tag-too"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}