Boohoo.com lowers profit outlook for the full year

For the four months to December 31, 2014, Boohoo.com revenue went up 25 percent. Revenue in the UK went up 25 percent, in the Rest of Europe, 35 percent and in the Rest of World, 19 percent. Gross margin was 59.9 percent, up 30bps on prior year and company had 2.9 million active customers, up 31 percent against the last year.

However, the growth was not as anticipated by the company after it announced in its interim results published mid-October that it had managed the marketing spend and growth in the early part of this period, while delivering the successful implementation of new warehouse management system and fully responsive website. Marketing was also increased to stimulate sales but resultant growth was lower than expected. The company blamed heavy promotional activity on the UK high street due to the warm autumn season.

Opined Joint Chief Executives, Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane, “Whilst the period proved a challenging trading environment, we have still grown the business by 25 percent, albeit short of our previous expectations.”

In light of the prevailing sales momentum in the business, the company expects the full year results to be below current market expectations. It now anticipates growth for the second half as a whole to be in line with the 25 percent growth for the four month period to December 31, 2014 and the EBITDA margin for the full year in line with the first half at approximately 10 percent.