Billabong sales lift 19.6% in currency terms in Europe

22 Feb '08

3 min read

Directors declared a fully-franked interim dividend of 27.0 cents per share, a rise of 14.9% on the prior period, reflecting confidence in the underlying strength of the business. Directors further advised that the final dividend for the 2007-08 financial year will be fully franked. However, the strong growth of the Group's international business combined with likely increased dividends in the future is expected to lead to ongoing dividends being partially unfranked.

“Much attention has been focused on the state of the US market. While the Company is not immune to general market conditions, this result shows our sales have been, and continue to be, resilient. The US business had a strong January and retains a solid forward order book.” “In the absence of any material deterioration in Billabong's market, the Group expects to meet its guidance of 5% to 10% earnings per share growth in reported Australian dollars for the full 2007-08 year,” said Mr O'Neill.

“This guidance, which assumes that currencies remain stable, and in particular that the average Australian-US dollar exchange rate is in the order of 90 cents in the second half, remains unchanged from advice provided at the 2007 Annual General Meeting. In constant currency terms, this reflects full-year EPS growth in the order of 15%.” “The underlying business remains very healthy, leaving the Company well positioned to deliver another strong full-year performance,” said Mr O'Neill.

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