The Premier Investments Limited (ASX: PMV) share price is having a fantastic start to the day.

In morning trade, the retail conglomerate's shares are up 9% to a record high of $33.51.

This follows the release of the company's half-year results.

For the six months ended 27 January, Premier Investments reported a 2.8% decline in sales to $879.5 million. Though, it is worth noting that this is still the second highest sales performance in its history.

The Peter Alexander business was on form during the half, delivering another record sales result of $279.3 million. This represents a 6.7% increase on the prior corresponding period.

The Smiggle business reported a 3.6% decline in global sales to $183.9 million for the half. This reflects a challenging discretionary retail environment, with the Smiggle customer particularly exposed to increased cost of living pressures in all global markets.

Elsewhere, the company's five Apparel Brands (Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Dotti and Jacqui E) collectively achieved sales of $416.3 million. This is a decrease of 8.1% on last year's record half.

Things were better for the company's earnings, with total EBIT only falling 0.3% to $245.7 million. The majority of this came from its Premier Retail business, which recorded first-half EBIT of $209.8 million. This was higher than its December guidance of approximately $200 million thanks partly to a record Boxing Day performance.

This allowed the Premier Investment board to declare a fully franked interim dividend of 63 cents per share. While this is down from 70 cents per share from the prior corresponding period, that included a special dividend. So, on a standalone basis, this dividend is up 16.7% year on year and is a record payout from the company.

The big news from today's results announcement is that the company is planning to demerge both its Smiggle and Peter Alexander businesses.

The company is working towards a demerger of Smiggle by the end of January 2025 and exploring a demerger of Peter Alexander during calendar year 2025.

Any demergers will be subject to further review and final board approval as well as regulatory and shareholder approvals.

Premier's Chairman, Solomon Lew, was pleased with the half. He said:

In a challenging general discretionary retail environment, Premier Retail delivered its second highest sales and EBIT performance in the Group's history. The 1H24 EBIT of $209.8 million was 4.9% above the 'circa $200 million' expectation that we provided to the market on 1 December 2023 which in itself was an upgrade to the approximate $180 million consensus at that time.

The ongoing strategic review has identified that the potential demerger of Smiggle and Peter Alexander is likely to maximise and accelerate the growth opportunities for these two brands over time. We are therefore working towards a demerger of Smiggle by the end of January 2025 and exploring a demerger of Peter Alexander in calendar year 2025.

Management advised that Premier Retail global sales for the first 8 weeks of the second half are showing improving momentum and are back in line with the prior comparable period.

Looking further ahead, the Peter Alexander business is planning to launch in the United Kingdom, with its first stores to open before Christmas 2024.

The Premier Investments share price is up 35% over the last 12 months.