Boohoo half-year profits up by 129%

Fast fashion etailer Boohoo.com has posted an increase in profits of 129% for the six months ending 31 August 2016. Pre-tax profits for the period hit £14.4m on revenues up 40% at £127.3m.

While the UK posted strong growth with revenues up 38% the Manchester-based business also achieved significant growth internationally with revenues up 41% in Europe, 93% in the US and 17% for the rest of the world. International sales now account for 36% of total revenue.

Joint CEOs Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane said they had been particularly pleased with new customer growth during the period. Boohoo now has 4.5m active customers, up 28% on the prior year.

"Our inclusive brand, unbeatable choice, together with our incredible prices and fantastic service, continue to inspire and appeal to young customers around the world," they said. "Through our constant focus on what matters to our customers, together with our investment in technology and operational improvements, we will continue to deliver profitable growth."

Kamani and Kane have set the expectation for revenue growth of 30%-35% for the full year figures, to reflect tougher comparisons in the second half. They are also planning significant IT investment and as such are setting the expectation of a full-year EBITDA of around 11%; at the half-year stage the EBITDA figure was 13%.

Boohoo was founded in 2006 and now stocks 20,000 styles of young fashion (it targets the 16-24 year-old age group) on its site with 100 new styles being added each day. It has recently added a kids' offer targeting 4-12 year-olds.