Profit of Lojas Renner surpasses expectations and grow 45% in first quarter

The fashion retailer Lojas Renner had quarterly net income higher than expected and 45% higher compared to the previous year, supported by a double digit growth in sales despite the slowness of the brazilian economy. The company profited R $161.6 million between January and March, whereas international accounting standards. Analysts expected, on average, net profit of RS $128.2 million for the period, according to estimates compiled by Refinitiv. Growth in same store basis accelerated to 12.7%, compared with 6.3% in the first quarter of 2018. Net revenue jumped 18 percent, to R $1.65 billion while operating costs receded 4.6%. With that, the net margin rose 1.8 percentage points, to 9.8%. "April is progressing as expected and important events ahead for retail as mother's day and Valentine's day," he told Reuters on Thursday the Chief financial and investor relations officer, Laurence Garcia. According to him, the company plans to invest R $700 million in 2019, of which $121 million reais in R logistics, including a new distribution center of 150,000 square meters in the southeast of the country. Although the Lojas Renner do not release data on electronic trade separately, the Executive said the retailer's sales over the Internet have grown five times more than the average online fashion retailers in the country. "Launches the application in October and 30% of products purchased online are already taken in physical stores, which shows the complementarity of our channels," said Garcia. The action of Lojas Renner was discharged of 5.8% on Thursday, compared with 1.6% advance of the Ibovespa.