(Updates with share moves, adds comments from Morgan Stanley)

** Shares of Premier Investments extend losses to fall as much as 2.2% to A$27.04 by 2332 GMT, hitting their lowest since Jan 19, 2024

** Citi says co's poor half-year trading update was due to higher-than-expected cost of doing business

** Brokerage cuts stock PT to A$30 from A$36, retains "neutral" rating

** Australian retailer said it expected global sales from its retail business, consisting of Peter Alexander and Smiggle brands, to be in the range of A$855 mln to A$865 mln ($526.25 mln to $532.41 mln) in 1H25 vs A$879.5 mln in pcp

** Business over past few years has been adept at managing cost inflation ... perhaps we have gotten too comfortable with that — Citi

** Brokerage expects Smiggle stationery brand to constitute most of retail business' underperformance

** Morgan Stanley expects earnings downgrade driven by lower gross margins to stimulate demand and lack of growth in Smiggle

** Brokerage cuts PT to A$37.5 from A$39.5, maintains "overweight" rating

** Stock down ~13.5% so far this year

($1 = 1.6247 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru)

((Nikita.Jino@thomsonreuters.com))