28th Oct 2019 09:39
(Alliance News) - Shares in Sosandar PLC jumped on Monday as the retailer predicted a strong first half revenue growth on the back of a solid rise in order numbers.
Shares in the online women's fashion retailer were 23% higher at 19.60 pence on Monday morning in London.
For the six months to the end of September, Sosandar expects revenue to be GBP2.8 million, up 53% from GBP1.8 million the same period the year before.
Operationally, the number of orders rose by 47% year-on-year to 64,709 from 43,979, while Sosandar's customer database grew by 76% to 148,884 from 84,500 the prior year.
The company said its growth was fostered by its placing in July which raised GBP7 million, the proceeds of which went towards strengthening its design capability, enlarge its product range and start on additional marketing channels.
Sosandar said sales across all of its product categories were strong, even as the average order value marginally decrease due to the average unit price shifting with the group's broader product offering.
Looking ahead, Sosandar said it expects to continue with its full price sales performance in the third quarter of its financial 2020, and expects the average order value to increase on expectations of the cold weather to raise the sales of higher price points items such as outwear.
In addition, Sosandar said it will invest further in television advertising, which will lead to marketing costs being higher than originally planned.
"Our ability as an online retailer to employ an agile strategy resulted in us focusing our customer acquisition activity on the important Autumn months towards the end of the period and carrying into current trading. As expected, the accelerated investment into marketing and product is producing strong results with record months in September and October," said Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, joint chief executive officers.
"We are delighted with the success of our new advertising activity and the board is confident that accelerating our future growth by increased investment in marketing (especially via TV) in this financial year is the right decision for our business," Hall and Lavington added.
Sosandar will publish its interim results on November 27.
By Dayo Laniyan; [email protected]
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