26th Sep 2018 09:28
LONDON (Alliance News) - Online clothing retailer Boohoo Group PLC on Wednesday said profit rose in the first half of its year with an exceptional performance from its PrettyLittleThing brand.
Shares in Boohoo were up 8.5% at 207.90 pence on Wednesday morning.
In the six months to August 31, Boohoo recorded pretax profit of GBP24.7 million, 21% higher than its GBP20.0 million profit the year before.
Revenue increased 50% to GBP395.3 million from GBP262.9 million, including a contribution from PrettyLittleThing of GBP168.6 million, more than double its GBP72.7 million revenue the previous year.
During the half year, Boohoo relocated its PrettyLittleThing distribution centre with just "low level disruption" to its operations.
The company's two other brands, Boohoo and Nasty Gal, also saw notable revenue growth, with boohoo contributing GBP209.0 million versus GBP181.8 million the year before and Nasty Gal revenue more than doubling to GBP17.7 million from GBP8.3 million.
The joint chief executives of Boohoo, Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane, said it had been "another strong performance" for the company with "growth in all markets". The bulk of Boohoo's revenue for the year, GBP234.1 million, comes from the UK, which saw a 43% increase from GBP163.4 million the year prior.
However, the company's largest revenue increase was seen in the rest of Europe, where revenue increased 84% to GBP51.3 million and in the USA where it grew 72% to GBP68.2 million.
Kamani and Kane said that the PrettyLittleThing relocation is a "key milestone" for Boohoo as it works to develop its distribution network to be "capable of generating GBP3 billion of net sales globally".
The company has revised its expectations for revenue growth upwards to between 38% and 43% for the full year, an improvement from its 35% to 40% prior prediction.
"We reiterate our medium term guidance to deliver sales growth of at least 25% per annum and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization margin of 10%," the company said.
In a separate announcement, Boohoo also said that its senior non-executive director, David Forbes, is to retire October 26. The retailer said that it "will commence a search process for a replacement imminently". Boohoo intends to promote Non-Executive Director Sara Murray into the senior directorship immediately upon his departure.
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