Cettire Ltd (ASX: CTT) shares are having a day to forget on Wednesday.
Despite the Australian share market racing higher, this ASX 300 stock is crashing deep into the red.
At the time of writing, the online luxury products retailer's shares are down 19% to a two-year low of 53 cents.
Why is this ASX 300 stock crashing?
Investors have been hitting the sell button this morning following the release of a third quarter update.
According to the release, Cettire achieved a 1% increase in sales revenue over the prior corresponding period to $260.1 million.
This was achieved with a delivered margin of 14%, which reflects a continuation of heightened promotional activity. Active customers rose 8% year on year to 696,000.
Things were much worse for its earnings, which could explain why Cettire shares are falling materially today.
Cettire reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $4.7 million. This is inclusive of $2.1 million realised foreign exchange losses.
Its founder and CEO, Dean Mintz, revealed that the global personal luxury goods market has been volatile and there has been a softening of underlying demand. He commented:
The operating environment within the global personal luxury goods market since Cettire's H1 FY25 results has remained volatile, with softening underlying demand evident across all geographies. Following a profitable first half, Cettire placed an increased emphasis on market share in the third quarter.
While revenue growth was not maintained at H1 FY25 levels, Cettire's growth is likely to outperform the luxury sector with recent industry results and guidance demonstrating negative growth across a number of brands in the March quarter.
Speaking about the company's delivered margin, Mintz adds:
With Cettire's increased emphasis on market share and, against a backdrop of persistent sector-wide promotional activity to stimulate demand, the Company continued to participate in promotional activity throughout the quarter, resulting in a reduction in delivered margin as a percentage of sales compared to H1 FY25.
Outlook
The ASX 300 stock warned that the fourth quarter was likely to be tough.
It notes that "there continues to be uncertainty within the global personal luxury goods market, with softer demand persisting."
It also points out that since the recent tariff changes it "has observed a softening in US demand, Cettire's largest market, with volatility in daily sales." Importantly, this "includes sales of items that are not subject to duties."
In light of this, the ASX 300 stock has implemented a series of cost initiatives to drive run rate improvements in variable costs across fulfilment, merchant fees and IT, totalling more than $5 million per annum at current volumes.
Given ongoing volatility in sales in April, management was unable to provide any specific commentary on expected sales for the fourth quarter.
