Vita Group upgrades guidance off the back of strong Christmas trade

A STRONG Christmas trading period has buoyed Vita Group, as the company now upgrades its earnings guidance by as much as $4 million for the first half.

The tech company and Telstra franchisor expects to earn $20 million before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), exceeding October 2017's guidance range of $16-18 million.

While the holiday season supported Vita Group's retail channels, partly due to allocations for the iPhone 8 and iPhone X relaxing earlier than expected, the company also focused heavily on cost control to improve its results.

Vita Group CEO Maxine Horne (pictured) says the company is also set to deliver a strong full year as it upgrades its FY18 EBIDTA guidance from $36-43 million to $38-43 million.

"We are pleased with the improved outcome for the first half of the financial year and are confident in our ability to deliver another solid result for FY18," says Horne.

"We will continue to look for efficiencies and improvements in our cost to serve across all of our businesses, whilst continuing to deliver exceptional customer experience."

The company has recovered from a testing FY17, when its share price fell sharply due to leaked documents which started rumours that Telstra was planning to retake control of many of Vita Group's most successful stores.

Vita Group soon bounced back to deliver a strong FY17 revenue result of $674.6 million, up five percent on FY16.

Before the calendar year's end, it also acquired non-surgical cosmetic treatment business Clear Complexions for $9.5 million.

Subject to final accounting adjustments and auditor review, Vita Group will report its 1H18 results late next month.

Vita Group shares are up 6.5 per cent at the time of writing (9:40am AEST), trading at $1.70.

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Business News Australia