Boohoo full-year profits surge as sales double

The online fast fashion group’s pre-tax profits jumped 40% to £43m in the year to February 28, while sales rocketed 97% to £580m. 

PrettyLittleThing, which boohoo acquired just over a year ago, was its star performer, generating revenues of £181m – up 228% year-on-year. 

Its active customer base more than doubled to three million in its début year as high profile celebrity associations drove traffic to the site and the company expanded internationally. 

The group said today that PrettyLittleThing will move into its own warehouse in the first half of next year “to add further operational flexibility”. 

Joint chief executives Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane said: “The move represents a significant milestone as we develop a distribution network capable of generating £3bn of net sales globally, in line with our vision to lead the fashion ecommerce market.”

Boohoo has also completed the build of its new distribution centre extension, which is scheduled for use from early 2019 and is intended to drive efficiency savings through automation.

Nasty Gal and Boohoo

Sales at new brand Nasty Gal reached £24.4m, exceeding the group’s first year estimates. 

Meanwhile, at brand Boohoo, customer numbers advanced 22% year-on-year to 6.4 million and UK sales jumped 95%. 

Gross margin slipped 330bps to 51.2% following, it said, planned investments in the customer proposition. 

Outlook 

Kamani and Kane praised the group’s performance against what they described as a “backdrop of difficult trading in the UK”. 

“Our strategy will remain focussed on providing the best fashion at great prices coupled with excellent customer service. To this end we have a plan of continuous investment in systems and technology to ensure we offer an optimal online shopping experience,” they said. 

The retailer added that it has made a “strong start” the new financial year and expects to generate sales growth between 35% and 40%.