Sosandar reports 'return to revenue growth' following M&S cyber incident

Sosandar has returned to revenue growth in the first half of its financial year, supported by a strong rebound on its DTC website despite a five-month disruption to trading through Marks & Spencer following its cyber incident.

For the six months to 30 September 2025, revenue rose 15% to £18.7 million, up from £16.2 million last year. The standout performer was Sosandar.com, where revenue increased 28% year on year, driven by higher traffic, stronger conversion and more orders from both new and existing customers.

Gross margin held steady at 62.2%, with the business continuing its strategic shift away from discount-driven sales that once weighed down profitability.

The company reported a loss before tax of £1.1 million, compared with a £700,000 loss in the prior period, a performance the company said was "in line with our expectations and reflecting traditional second half weighting of profitability alongside the impact of own stores and M&S cyber incident."

As is typical for Sosandar, profitability is expected to be significantly stronger in the second half, when both revenue and margins rise due to seasonal trading.

Co-CEOs, Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, said: "We are really pleased with how the business has performed over the past six months. During this period, we delivered a return to revenue growth, supported by strong momentum through our own website, which remains a key driver of both sales and customer engagement, alongside a resilient gross margin.

"The Autumn/Winter season has delivered another robust trading performance, with customers continuing to respond positively to our unique collections across both occasion and everyday dressing. Looking forward, the foundations have been laid for sustainable, profitable, cash generative growth."

Sosandar continues to be among the top-selling brands across all third-party partners, including NEXT. While the M&S cyber incident halted revenue from that channel for most of the half, sales have now resumed and stock intake is being scaled back up.

The period also saw Sosandar launch a licensed homeware range with NEXT. The brand said the collection "has delivered a strong initial performance in line with our expectations".

Physical retail remains a longer-term investment. Sosandar now operates six standalone stores, which together generated 5% of total revenue during the half. As anticipated, they are not yet profitable; however, the company noted that its first two stores, Chelmsford and Marlow, have now been open for just over a year and "delivered encouraging results and are on track to reach breakeven in year two".

Overall, Sosandar said it remains on track to deliver full-year expectations, with market forecasts (as revised in July 2025) of £43.6 million revenue and £400,000 profit before tax for the year ending 31 March 2026.