Boohoo beats city forecasts with 55% sales rise

Fast-growing online retailer Boohoo has posted a 55% rise in sales in the four months to 31 December 2016, beating expectations in the city.

Sales for the four-month period hit £114.3m, while financial year to date sales (10 months to 31 December) were up 47% at £241.6m. Active customers were up 31% at 5.1m.

Joint CEOs Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane said trading had been strong across all regions. "Our strategy offering great pricing, enticing promotions and an ever-broader range of the latest fashion continues to drive growth and enhance customer lifetime value," they said.

They added that sales in the US had been particularly strong, up 230% in the four-month period to £19,649. The Manchester-based business hopes to capitalise on its growing popularity in the US with the acquisition of certain assets of stricken US etailer Nasty Gal.

Yesterday it was revealed that a US bankruptcy court had approved the process of a sale of the assets to Boohoo, positioning it as the stalking horse bidder in a court approved auction process for which all bids must be submitted by 2 February.

The company also purchased a 66% stake in young fashion brand PrettyLittleThing in December and has also been investing in its warehouse in Burnley and in its IT infrastructure. Due to that investment, and price promotions, gross margin was down 260bps at 54.4%.

As a result of the strong pre-Christmas trading Boohoo now expects full year sales (excluding PrettyLittleThing) to be between 43% and 45% in the full year to end of February 2017, which is up from the previous guidance of 38% to 42%.