Despite a slight revenue dip, Global Brands Group Holding has almost doubled its first-half operating profit.

Its total margin continued its upward trajectory, increasing from 28.3 to 30.5 per cent, primarily because of sourcing optimisation.

As a result of the increased total margin and lower running costs, operating profit for the period to the end of September increased by 94.1 per cent to US$80 million.

However, revenue eased by 3.2 per cent year on year to $1.7 billion. The branded apparel, footwear and fashion accessories company says this was largely a result of a shift of retail buying to later in the year, as well as the anticipated end of the Quiksilver children’s fashion licence because of the company’s bankruptcy, and Coach taking its footwear business in-house following the expiration of its licence in June.

“The global retail industry continues to experience a structural transformation, with consumers becoming progressively more powerful when it comes to defining their shopping experience,” says Global Brands CEO/vice-chairman Bruce Rockowitz. To meet ever-changing expectations, he says brands are increasingly looking to work with licensing partners such as Global Brands because of their product expertise, global platforms and multi-channel distribution networks.

“The industry has seen a growing number of specialised brand investors continue to acquire brands, while looking to separate intellectual property (IP) ownership from brand operations.

Global Brands has continued to benefit from this trend and has forged an increasing number of long-term licensing agreements with these IP owners.”

During the reporting period, these notably included the BCBG and Bebe brands.