Sosandar confirms first full year of profitability in ‘milestone year’

Wilmslow-based womenswear brand, Sosandar, has reported its first year of profitability with profits before tax reaching £1.6 million despite the "challenging macroeconomic backdrop".

The milestone year, ending 31 March 2023, reported revenues of £42.5 million, up 44% year-on-year from £29.5 million. Gross margin remained at 56.1% (FY22: 56.0%), despite growth in revenue through its lower-margin wholesale channel.

The number of online orders increased by 22% to 620,977, of which 148,382 were from new customers and 472,595 were from existing customers. In addition, the average order value went up 8% to £97.27. Active customers increased by 19% to 265k and the average order frequency increased by 3% to 2.34 times per year.

In particular, "knitwear, formal tailoring, coats, partywear, summer occasion wear and swim and beach wear" stood out as top-performing categories during the year.

This year also saw Sosandar join forces with third-party partners, such as Sainsbury’s in Q4 of 2023. The well-received launch reportedly considerably helped with the current financial year's successes.

Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, Co-CEOs of Sosandar, commented: "We are delighted to report on what has been a transformational year for Sosandar. Despite the challenging macroeconomic backdrop, we have seen increasing demand for our products across all categories with strong trading across both Sosandar.com and through our third-party partners."

"Our third-party partnerships continue to perform extremely well and we were delighted to become an omnichannel retailer through our partnership with Sainsbury’s... We are also excited that we will imminently be able to transact and fulfil orders worldwide through our agreement with Global-e which is set to go live this month, providing women across the globe with access to our unique and diverse product range."

The company expects the momentum built throughout FY23 to continue into FY24, in line with current trading expectations.

An impressive full-year report follows the company’s successful investment round in February of this year. Sosandar raised £5.5 million in new investment, with new and existing investors showing support for the business and its plan for future growth.  The company plans to deploy the money raised from its over-subscribed equity fundraise in January 2023 to "support [its] growth both in the UK and internationally".