I am looking together at Universal Store and Dusk, which target...

I am looking together at Universal Store and Dusk, which target a similar age group (even if Dusk is focused on female customers).

Both companies had a significant decrease of their lfl sales during H1 24, but it had a very different impact on their EBIT : large decrease for Dusk vs + 8 % for Universal.
The main differences between the 2 companies :
- gross margin trend (increase for UNI by 80 bp vs slight decrease for Dusk),
- the main difference was about the CODB (flat for UNI, excluding the effect of CTC, vs + 6 % for Dusk).
Uni also benefited from the consolidation of CTC for the full half period (small contribution for H1 23).

The Universal store chain (excluding Perfect Stranger and CTC) had a good resistance during H1 24, as their underlying EBIT was down only 0.7 m$, while its sales decreased by 2 m$. It was due both to a gross margin in line with H1 23 and a good cost control.