Groupe Dynamite Inc.‘s shares jumped by about 16 per cent on Wednesday as the market responded to the retailer posting a jump in second-quarter profit and hiking its full-year sales forecast.
The company reported net income of $63.9 million for the quarter, up from $40.4 million a year earlier, which came as the Montreal-based business behind Dynamite and Garage clothing stores saw its revenue climb 36.5 per cent.
The results were “substantially ahead of almost any specialty retailer” in North America, pointed out one analyst, who asked Groupe Dynamite CEO Andrew Lutfy on Wednesday how his business was bucking the trend.
Lutfy attributed the success to a management team with a “very heightened sense of ownership and accountability” and a focus on “overdelivering.” He also mentioned the company has been analyzing customer data and using it to make merchandise and marketing decisions in real-time.
“It’s a degree of engineered success versus crystal ball success, when it comes to fashion, which never seems to work that well on a sustained basis,” Lutfy said.
Groupe Dynamite’s recent success comes less than a year after it went public.
A few months after its first day of trading in November, the globe was plunged into a trade war that’s upended supply chains, caused some shoppers to think twice about purchases and had retailers bracing for even worse ahead.
While some of Groupe Dynamite’s merchandise was bought when 145 per cent tariffs were in place in China, there is now a 90-day pause on the measure. The pause ends in November.
“As a result of this, we have taken a cautious approach to our guidance,” said chief financial officer Jean-Philippe Lachance on the same call as Lutfy, though the retailer still significantly boosted its forecast.
Groupe Dynamite said it now expects comparable store sales growth between 17 and 19 per cent for its full year, up from earlier expectations for between 7.5 and nine per cent.
It also raised its expectations for its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margin to between 32 and 33.5 per cent, up from earlier guidance for between 30.3 and 32.3 per cent.
“Certainly, if tariffs work to stay where they are today, I think the upper half of that range would be very much in place, but we don’t know what we don’t know,” Lachance said.
So far, Groupe Dynamite has caught at least one lucky break amid the trade turmoil; it’s little affected by the end of the de minimis exemption.
The exemption to the U.S. policy allowed shipments of $800 or less to receive duty-free treatment when crossing American borders.
Lachance said the end of the exemption “is truly immaterial and inconsequential for our business as the majority of our e-commerce orders were already being fulfilled through our U.S. stores” when the tariff drama began.
His remarks preceded Groupe Dynamite shares edging up by about $6.59 in early afternoon trading to $47.88 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Before the rise, Groupe Dynamite revealed its profit amounted to 56 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 2, up from 38 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Groupe Dynamite earned 57 cents per diluted share, up from an adjusted profit of 40 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue for the 13-week period totalled $326.4 million, up from $239.1 million a year ago, while its comparable store sales jumped 28.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2025.
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