Sosandar revenue rises 14% as EBITDA doubles and stores weigh on profit

Sosandar grew FY26 revenue to £42.3 million, with EBITDA reaching £2.1 million, as its own website returned to growth and gross margin improved.

In summary

• Revenue rose 14% to £42.3m, while gross margin increased by 186 basis points to 64%.
• EBITDA grew 105% to £2.1m and adjusted profit before tax reached £0.4m.
• Own-website revenue climbed 24%, although the store estate generated a £0.9m loss at the adjusted pre-tax level.

Reducing frequent discounting helped the AIM-listed UK women’s fashion brand to increase sales and improve margins during the year ended 31 March 2026. Website growth and stronger marketing returns supported the result, while disruption at Marks & Spencer – which suffered a cyber attack last year that took its website offline for six weeks in sprint 2025 – constrained third-party revenue and the store estate continued to absorb earnings.

Higher margins support profitability

Gross profit increased 17% to £27 million, ahead of the 14% rise in revenue. Gross margin has now improved by more than 600 basis points in two years, from 57.6% in FY24 to 64% in FY26.

The retailer attributed the improvement mainly to lower promotional activity on its website. Better intake margins also contributed, supported by sterling’s strength against the US dollar and improved prices from suppliers.

Adjusted profit before tax increased from £156,000 to £377,000. This excludes a £346,000 non-cash impairment charge relating to store assets. Statutory profit before tax was £31,000, compared with a £67,000 loss in FY25.

Administrative expenses rose 16% to £26.6 million, reflecting higher growth investment and a full year of costs across the store estate. Marketing expenditure more than doubled from £1.1 million to £2.4 million, with spending directed towards Meta and Google alongside the return of printed consumer brochures.

Co-CEOs Ali Hall and Julie Lavington said: “We set out at the start of the year to demonstrate that we could return to strong revenue growth while maintaining margins and improving profitability, and we have delivered on all three.”

Website orders drive own-channel growth

Revenue from Sosandar’s own website increased 24%, while total revenue from the website and stores rose 31% to £21.5 million.

Website sessions grew 11% to 15.1 million and conversion improved from 2.42% to 2.68%. Orders increased by 23% to 404,614, with active customers up 15% to 204,492. Average order frequency rose 7% to 1.98, although average order value declined 4% to £109.

Third-party revenue was broadly unchanged at £20.8 million after the M&S cyber incident meant there was no revenue from that partner for 11 weeks. When trading restarted, stock intake stayed constrained before getting back to normal levels in February 2026. Sosandar said it continued to be among the top-selling brands across its partners, including NEXT.

Store estate remains loss-making

Sosandar’s stores traded more strongly as they entered their second year, but the estate reduced adjusted profit before tax by £0.9 million. Store costs, including fit-out depreciation, doubled to £2.4 million.

Market-town locations outperformed shopping-centre stores, which are taking longer to mature. Sosandar does not expect to open further stores in FY27 and will focus on making its existing locations profitable. Its current stores are located in Chelmsford, Marlow, Gateshead, Cardiff and Harrogate.

The retailer assigned the lease for its loss-making Bath store to another retailer on 29 June, allowing it to close the location after the reporting period.

FY27 Q1 revenue advances 22%

Net revenue rose 22% to £11.6 million in the first quarter of FY27, against a comparative period affected by minimal M&S sales. Gross margin reached 65.2%, while own-website revenue increased 7%.

Net cash stood at £8.9 million on 30 June, after a further £0.5 million of share buybacks. All third-party partners were trading ahead of the previous year, and Sosandar said it remained on track to meet full-year market expectations.