22nd Nov 2016 08:14
LONDON (Alliance News) - AO World PLC on Tuesday said it swung to a profit in the first half of its financial year as revenue grew in both the UK and Europe, and it maintained its full-year guidance despite expecting some pricing pressure as a result of the weaker pound.
The online electrical retailer said it made a pretax profit of GBP2.3 million in the six months ended September 30, having suffered an GBP8.0 million pretax loss a year earlier, as revenue grew to GBP324.7 million from GBP264.3 million.
AO World said growth continued in both the UK and Europe, with UK revenue up 19% and Europe revenue up 67%.
"Looking ahead, while the economy clearly faces some uncertainty and the sterling softening during the year is likely to provide some pricing pressure, our strong first half performance sets us up well for the rest of the year," AO World said in a statement.
"Across our business we are on track with progress against our long-term strategic goals. At this mid-way point in the year we maintain our previous full-year group guidance, with the continued momentum in the UK balanced with the continued investment in Europe. We remain confident that the opportunity for AO in Europe is huge and that the market dynamics are shifting in our favour as customers continue to move online. Against that backdrop we are well placed to deliver sustainable long-term growth," the company added.
AO World's full-year guidance is for revenue of between GBP700.3 million and GBP735.9 million, and an adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation loss of between GBP2.4 million and GBP4.7 million due to investments related to its expansion strategy.
Shares in AO World were trading up 1.2% at 170.00p on Tuesday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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