boohoo posts year-end sales up 97%

Fast fashion online retailer boohoo posted a 97% increase in group revenues to £579.8m in the year to 28 February 2018 as it achieved strong growth across all the markets in which it operates.

The AIM-listed Manchester-based group said the UK was up by 95% with international up 99%. Adjusted profit before tax was up 60% at £51m, in a set of strong results, which were in-line with expectations from analysts.

boohoo.com saw its sales jump by 32% to £374.1m, while PrettyLittleThing, in which the group acquired a 66% stake at the end of 2016, was up 228% on a comparative 12-month basis at £181.3m. Nasty Gal, the former US fast fashion etailer whose IP and certain assets boohoo acquired in March last year, posted sales of £24.4m.

The group reported that boohoo now has 6.4m active customers, while PrettyLittleThing has 3m and NastyGal 0.6m.

Joint CEOs Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane said that 2018 had got off to a strong start and that revenue growth for the next financial year was expected to be between 35% to 40% with adjusted EBITDA margin between 9% to 10% and capital expenditure of £50m to £60m.

“The group made great progress during the year, integrating a new company, PrettyLittleThing, and a new brand, Nasty Gal, into the boohoo group. Revenue from boohoo continued to grow strongly, whilst there has been an exceptional performance from PrettyLittleThing, and Nasty Gal exceeded our estimates in its first year. Against a backdrop of difficult trading in the UK clothing sector, the group continued to perform well, gaining market share in the expanding online sector. Our international business showed higher growth rates and we are pleased with its gathering momentum," they said.