AO profits surge as membership scheme boosts performance

AO.com posted like-for-like adjusted profit before tax of £45m, an increase of 32%, which the retailer hailed as a record sum. Group revenue advanced 7% to £1.11bn as core retail sales climbed 12% to £832m in the year to March 31. 

AO said growth was powered by the success of its Five Star membership programme and broadening of its product range, while the purchase of Music Magpie added £30m of revenue.

AO founder and chief executive John Roberts said: “Our 25th year in business has been our best yet. We’ve delivered a record profit before tax performance, significantly grown our sales, and continued to delight our ever-growing customer base with trusted, outstanding service.

“One of the key drivers of this performance is our Five Star membership programme, which is giving our customers even more reasons to keep coming back to us. We’re also broadening our product range beyond the major domestic appliance category that we’re best known for. We added over 1,500 new products during the year, which means that categories such as fitness, drones, cameras and health and beauty are all now available at fantastic prices.

“The really great news is that there’s so much more for us to go after, with a total addressable market of over £28bn. Given the size of that prize, the fantastic momentum that we’re seeing across the business, and our awesome team, I couldn’t be more excited about the next 25 years. In many ways, we’re only just getting started.”

The retailer said despite macroeconomic challenges, in the current financial year it has ”initiatives in the pipeline which we expect to give customers more opportunities to buy from us and more reasons to keep coming back to us”.