The drop in Hallenstein Glasson's first-half profit this year will be twice as much as the company had earlier warned.
Hallenstein Glasson's December sales fell. Photo: RNZ
The clothing retailer said on Thursday its sales in December were down by 10% on the same month last year.
Because December sales are so important to it, the company said, profit will probably be down by 39% to just over $6 million for the six months ending 1 February.
In the second week of December, the company was warning of a 20% drop in first-half profit.
Chief executive Graeme Popplewell said most of the December performance was due to things the company could have done better.
"Retail is about making sure you have the right balance of product, that you give the customer exactly what they're asking for, and if you don't do that, then you won't get the result.
"So whilst we would say that normally we get that right, and certainly for many many years we've always proved we can do that, when we have a really hard look at ourselves we have to say perhaps we didn't do as well as we should have."