Fashion retailer Noni B Group expects that the five brands it acquired from Specialty Fashion Group earlier this year will make a positive contribution to the company’s 2019 EBITDA, thanks to achieving annualised merger benefits of $30 million sooner than expected.

The business initially expected the Millers, Katies, Crossroads, Autograph and Rivers brands to break even on an EBIDTA basis in FY19 after acquiring them in a loss-making state.

“We [also] expect the full-year benefit of merger synergies to be reflected in the group’s 2020 financial year results, together with a degree of gross margin improvement,” Noni B Group chairman Richard Facioni said at the group’s annual general meeting on Thursday.

“As a result, we anticipate the 2020 financial year to generate a significant increase in EBIDTA over the current financial year and to likely exceed market consensus of around $75 million, around double the group’s earnings in the 2018 financial year.”

In the short term, the brand still anticipates a decline in like-for-like sales. So far in the FY19 like-for-like sales are down 5 per cent on the same period last year.

Facioni stressed that despite this decline, online sales have continued to grow. The company saw online revenue increase by 67.8 per cent in FY18, representing 5.8 per cent of total sales.

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