Pyjama brand Peter Alexander was the best performer among Premier’s retail brand stable, with sales increasing 6.2 per cent to $508.6 million. Sales at youth and stationery store Smiggle fell 7.4 per cent to $296 million. Apparel Brands saw sales drop 6.4 per cent to $790.7 million.

Premier took the market by surprise after sacking long-time Smiggle boss John Cheston earlier this month. Cheston announced in June he would resign to head up jewellery retailer Lovisa, run by rival retail billionaire Brett Blundy. In a statement, Premier said Cheston had been terminated for “serious misconduct and a serious breach of his employment terms”.

“It’s clear management lacked focus on that particular brand,” Lew said of Smiggle’s results on Wednesday.

“I can honestly say we hardly lose any staff to competitors,” he added. “If you’re going to ask me if Brett Blundy has called me yet, we know each other pretty well, no, I haven’t received a call from him.”

Lew declined to comment on whether he was pursuing legal action against Cheston.

Peter Alexander’s store footprint is set to grow, with four new stores due to open this year across Australia and New Zealand. Premier has also identified 20 “further opportunities” for new or large-format stores.

The pyjama brand, which encompasses men’s, women, children’s, plus-size clothing and gift-giving, is also heavily investing in marketing in Britain, where it will launch a UK website and three stores in London shopping centres by November.

“There’s a lot of competition in the marketplace, but not for Peter Alexander,” said Lew.

Smiggle, which already has about 180 stores across Europe and Asia, also has more in the pipeline.

Premier’s online sales decreased by 2.9 per cent to $315.3 million. E-commerce represents about a fifth of the overall business.

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Despite the reluctance of shoppers to part with their money amid ongoing cost-of-living pressures, Premier Investments increased gross margins by 35 basis points to 62.6 per cent.

The company has announced a fully franked final dividend of 70¢ per share, taking the full-year payout to 133¢ per share.

Investors seemed unimpressed with Premier’s results, sending its share price 9.1 per cent lower to $30.61 at close.

“The announced delay to the strategic review and increased focus on the Myer merger puts us in the camp that Premier Investments retains the growth brands of Peter Alexander and Smiggle,” said MST Marquee senior analyst Craig Woolford in a note to clients.

“The risk of earnings downgrades and weaker sales trends in the second-half for Peter Alexander and Smiggle are likely to put some downward pressure on the share price near-term.”

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