Dr Martens has blamed this year's record hot summer for reducing demand for its signature boots, as UK sales fell by more than a fifth.
The British bootmaker reported that UK sales dropped by a worse-than-expected 21.3% on a constant currency basis over its first half to September 26. Overall, group sales declined 9.8% to £290.4 million, or 9.2% lower with exchange rates stripped out.
Pre-tax losses widen
Half-year pre-tax losses widened to £8.5 million from £11 million a year earlier. Shares in the FTSE 250 company slumped more than 16% in morning trading on Thursday.
The firm said that while there were signs of improvement in October after a "very weak" September, group sales last month remained broadly in line with the overall mid-teen percentage declines seen in its second quarter.
Boots demand remains weak
Despite the cooler weather, falling sales continue to be driven by lower demand for its boots, according to the company.
Chief executive Ije Nwokorie described the first half performance as "disappointing". He said: "During the first half we experienced a challenging period for our core boots category, which was impacted by the exceptionally hot summer weather."
He added: "While we saw resilience in shoes and sandals, this was not enough to mitigate the decline in boots. We lessened the impact on profit from the revenue decline with good gross margin performance and continued tight cost control."
Outlook for the full year
The company said it continues to "navigate a challenging trading environment" and that "trading in the key weeks ahead will be crucial to determining our full year outturn".
Most analysts expect Dr Martens to report full-year underlying pre-tax profits of £65.7 million, up from £55 million in 2025-26.
