Kathmandu Holdings has issued further information regarding its operations during the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, the business said it has a pandemic plan in place to protect its employees, to manage potential cases of COVID-19 within its businesses and to address operational changes required to maintain business continuity.
The Group has also reported disruption to its European operations where the majority of Rip Curl stores and wholesale customers are now in enforced closures.
The business further stated that it had experienced significant declines in footfall to stores in Australia and New Zealand, impacting sales performance.
Due to these effects and the rapidly evolving nature of them, the Group is unable to forecast the extent of the COVID-19 impact on its trading results for the second half of the fiscal year.
Despite these impacts, the business is reporting that due to work that has been undertaken in the supply chain, the Group has sufficient inventory levels for the forthcoming season for all brands, assisted by the longer lead time of technical product categories and a diversified supplier base.
The Group is currently not expecting material delays in product availability for following seasons.
To help mitigate some of these effects, the business has announced it will take decisive action, specifically in reducing operating expenses, deferring non-essential capital projects, optimising labour costs, managing inventory levels and implementing a travel and hiring freeze.
Kathmandu Holdings’ MD and CEO Xavier Simonet said that the business' online presence and fulfilment capabilities should help to maintain a sense of normal trading.
"Given the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, we have been reviewing available advice and data on a daily basis and taking steps to protect the wellbeing of our team and customers, and to reduce the adverse impact on trading.
"Our channel agnostic approach, and especially our online fulfilment capabilities, should assist our ability to continue servicing customer needs despite growing government restrictions on the operation of retail outlets in many countries," he said.
Kathmandu Holdings will release its results for the half year ended 31 January 2020 on Monday 30 March 2020.