Dr Martens has warned that its revenue margins will fall this yr because the UK bootmaker ploughs funding right into a enterprise that has been beset by distribution issues within the US, sending its shares down by as a lot as 12 per cent on Thursday.

The corporate, which began life in 1901 in a small city in Northamptonshire, has confronted a sequence of selling and distribution points within the US over the previous yr, in addition to lacklustre demand for its sneakers within the area amid surging inflation.

It revealed on Thursday that the issues had pushed pre-tax income down by 1 / 4 to £159mn and mentioned there could be extra ache to come back, regardless of a ten per cent enhance in income to greater than £1bn for the primary time within the firm’s historical past.

Chief government Kenny Wilson, who joined the retailer in 2018 when it was owned by non-public fairness group Permira, mentioned it was paramount to “spend money on our future”.

Margins on the degree of earnings earlier than curiosity, tax, depreciation and amortisation dropped 4.5 proportion factors to 24.5 per cent within the yr ended March 31. Dr Martens expects them to drop one other 1 to 2 proportion factors within the present yr.

“After I joined we had been doing £348mn [in sales]. The brand new ambition is to go from being a £1bn model to a £2bn model. The rationale why we’re making these investments [in stores and systems] is as a result of we nonetheless see large alternatives to develop,” Wilson mentioned. “Quick time period, this yr is dilutive, but it surely received’t be dilutive long run.”

The shares dropped 12 per cent in early buying and selling in London earlier than they recovered some losses within the afternoon. The inventory has virtually halved in worth over the previous yr, leaving it down 68 per cent since its flotation in 2021.

“The problem shouldn’t be the numbers for the yr to March, however the steerage for the approaching yr . . . That’s the newest in a string of disappointments and one which might feed the bias that non-public fairness companies squeeze prices and funding too arduous after they personal a enterprise after which depart the following homeowners to choose up the tab,” mentioned Russ Mould, funding director at AJ Bell.

Wilson dismissed the suggestion on Thursday: “We invested earlier than the IPO once we had been a personal firm, we invested for the reason that IPO and we are going to proceed to take a position.”

He added that he anticipated inflation “to be tamed subsequent yr” and that buyers could be underneath much less strain, “however this yr remains to be going to be powerful”.

He additionally admitted that Dr Martens had an excessive amount of stock, predominantly within the US, “however there isn’t a approach I’m going to mark down core black iconic product as a result of in December, similar to it was 59 years in the past, will probably be extremely related and subsequently I can promote it at full value” as reductions sometimes erode revenue margins.