Supergroup slumps after fourth-quarter trading disappoints

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LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) - Supergroup (Other OTC: SEPGY - news) , the British company behind the Superdry fashion brand, said its full-year profit would be towards the lower end of forecasts after like-for-like retail sales fell 3.1 percent in its fourth quarter.

Shares in the company, which sells branded hoodies and t-shirts from 516 owned, franchised and licensed stores and concessions, slumped 19 percent to a five-month low on Thursday. The stock, which had already fallen 20 percent in April, was trading at 1,108 pence at 0745 GMT.

Supergroup said like-for-like sales were hit by the late timing of Easter and a planned reduction in lower margin sales on eBay. Stripping out the lost eBay sales, underlying sales at stores open for over a year and via the Internet fell 1.3 percent.

Analysts were predicting pretax profit for the year to April 26 in the range 61.1 million pounds to 65.2 million pounds, with consensus at 62.9 million, the company said. (Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Kate Holton)