Gross Sales Reached IDR 9.6 Trillion; Seasonal Momentum Ahead

Initiatives to drive merchandising full potential are progressing well. Suko is making good progress in footprint expansion through the upcoming shop-in-shop rollout in the next 14 stores, leading to a total of 34 by the end of the year.

A new private label, Anyday, launches in October 2023. It is designed to counteract the impact of inflation for consumers. To improve merchandise productivity, there will be a greater focus on maximizing inventory sell-through at full price and efforts to speed up the reduction of aged inventory were undertaken within the quarter impacting gross margins.

Initiatives of optimizing the store network are progressing well albeit the Company has a small number of stores with marginal profitability to be addressed under a newly formed watchlist. The focus of expansion in 2024 will be on high-quality stores rather than volume of stores opening. As part of the plan, six stores are expected to open in 2024 of which four will be latest Matahari concepts and two will be MU&KU.

The newly introduced MU&KU concept, catering to the upper middle segment, has been unveiled to target developers recently, the launch of which is expected in the first half of 2024. The Company also intends to advance store rebranding efforts and allocate capital expenditure towards higher potential stores.

In the near future, the Company is optimistic that the key seasons ahead from Christmas 2023 to Lebaran 2024 are well prepared benefitting from fresher inventories, the flow of merchandising initiatives and new brands, as well as greater investments in key store renewal and marketing.

"The challenges in the low-to-middle market segments are expected to remain in the short term but gradually improve with inflation subsiding, liquidity in the economy started to rise, and the Company is preparing for this with fresher, new and more competitively bought ranges coupled with a focus on a stronger brand portfolio across all segments," said Terry O'Connor, CEO of Matahari.