Agenda: AO.com, Kingfisher and Naked Wines update the market

AO.com

AO.com posts its interims results on Tuesday.

The online electricals business booked an adjusted EBITDA loss of £400,000 in the year to March 31, down from £3.4m the previous year.

The group’s operating loss also narrowed to £15.2m from £16.2m in 2017/18.

AO attributed the improvement in its bottom line to growth in its core UK market, where adjusted EBITDA spiked 20.9% to £27.4m, buoyed by the acquisition of Mobile Phones Direct (MPD).

On a like-for-like basis, stripping out the impact of the MPD business, UK adjusted EBITDA was up 14.3%.

Total UK sales jumped 10.1% to £749.3m, while like for likes climbed 5.7%.

But AO’s European operations remained challenging, as losses widened to €31.3m (£27.8m) from €29.6m (£26m) in 2017/18, despite a 32.2% spike in sales.

Kingfisher

Kingfisher posts its third-quarter results on Wednesday.

The home and DIY group reported a 12.5% decline in statutory pre-tax profit to £245m in the six months to July 31, down 6.4% to £353m on an underlying basis.

The retail group’s sales fell 0.8% on a constant currency basis to £6bn during the period, down 1.8% in like-for-like terms as strong sales across Screwfix and in Poland and Romania were offset by a “disappointing” sales performance in the UK and France.

Kingfisher attributed its decline in sales to “weak consumer backdrop in the UK and disruption caused by new range implementation at B&Q, and transformation-related issues at Castorama France”.

B&Q sales declined 3.3% to £1.8bn during the period, down 3.2% in like-for-like terms, primarily due to the discontinuation of its installation services. Weather-related items registered a 2.9% fall in sales while non-weather-related items were down 3.4%.

Naked Wines

Naked Wines posts its interims results on Thursday.

The Majestic Wine group was transformed under “one model and one management team with one focus, all under the Naked brand” in June.

Naked Wines more than doubled in size after being snapped up by Majestic almost four years ago. Its sales were expected to top £175m for the year ending April 2019.

Naked sells wines in the UK, the USA and Australia and has built a portfolio of 200 winemakers, producing 1,000 wines in 18 countries.

Majestic, which has a 200-strong store estate, made underlying earnings of £11.3m on sales on £267.6m in the year to April.