Baby Bunting’s profit plunges amid challenging market conditions

Baby Bunting booked significantly lower statutory profit in the last fiscal year amid challenging trading conditions and cost of living pressures.

The company’s attributable net income plunged 82.8 per cent to $1.7 million as sales declined 4.9 per cent to $498.4 million.

During the year, Baby Bunting opened four new stores and closed one in Camperdown, NSW.

Private label and exclusive product sales represented 46 per cent of sales, while online sales represented 21.8 per cent.

“While it is still early days, it is pleasing to see the implementation of the strategic growth initiatives that we announced as part of our Investor Day in June 2024 starting to deliver positive momentum in our trading and financial performance,” said Mark Teperson, Baby Bunting CEO.

“We remain focused on continuing to implement our strategy and maintaining the positive momentum achieved over the past three months.”

Meanwhile, the company reported 3.5 per cent total sales growth and 2 per cent comparable store sales growth in the first seven weeks of this fiscal year compared to the year-ago period.

For this year, Baby Bunting forecasts pro-forma net profit of $9.5 million to $12.5 million, with comparable sales store growth of nil to 3 per cent.

Teperson said the company’s main priorities for the rest of the year are completing its trading terms renegotiations with key suppliers, redesigning its store format for launching at the end of the third quarter, and rolling out new stores and refurbishing existing ones during the fiscal second half.

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