Boohoo cheers "strong" start to year as sales jump 39%

Online fashion retailer Boohoo has said first quarter group revenues surged by 39% after strong growth across all its brands.

The group saw sales jump to a better-than-expected £254.3m in a “strong” first quarter to 31 May, with the UK recording a 27% rise and international sales leaping 56%.

Its core Boohoo brand notched up a 27% leap in revenues to £123.5m, with growth of 42% to £112.1m for PrettyLittleThing and 153% to £18.2m at Nasty Gal.

The buoyant first-quarter performance means it remains on track for group revenue growth of 25% to 30% over the full year, it added.

Recently-hired chief executive John Lyttle, who took up the top job in March, said: “The group has made a strong start to the year as we continue to disrupt and capture market share in the UK and internationally across all our brands.

“We have ambitious plans for the group, and continue to invest to ensure that our scalable multi-brand platform is well-positioned to disrupt, gain market share and capitalise on the global opportunity in front of us.”

But the figures come after it was revealed Manchester-based Boohoo is facing a £118.5m lawsuit from IT contractor Richard Womack, who claims to be the third co-founder of the fashion e-commerce business.

Womack brought the claim against Boohoo co-founder Mahmud Kamani, saying he began working with Mr Kamani in 1998, offering IT consultancy services, and alleging that he was promised a 10% share of Boohoo in February 2006.

In April, Boohoo posted a 38% rise in annual pre-tax profits to £59.9m.

It was the first set of results since Mr Lyttle took the helm, replacing joint chief executives Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane in March, with the duo taking up the roles of executive chairman and executive director respectively.

Boohoo started life in Manchester in 2006, before snapping up PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal in 2017. It now has more than 11m customer accounts across its brands worldwide.

Caroline Gulliver, an equity analyst at Jefferies, said: “Boohoo has again beaten high expectations, despite macro headwinds.”