Boohoo sees 41 percent jump in revenues during Q1

Online fashion retailer Boohoo.com has reported a 41 percent increase year on year in revenue for the three months ended May 31, 2016. During the first quarter of FY17, Boohoo.com reported a 42 percent increase in revenue from the UK to 37,396 pounds, it’s strongest region, supported by strong third party sales.

"We are encouraged by our performance in the first quarter, with revenue growth in all geographic regions and slightly ahead of our expectations,” comment joint Chief Executives Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane in a statement. “Our international business continues to gather momentum and accounts for 36 percent of revenue.”

Retail gross margin reached 57.6 percent, down 300 bps on the year before, driven by planned investments in price and customer proposition. Overall gross margin was 56 percent for the quarter, as marketing expenditure was reduced as a percentage of sales, offsetting the retail margin decline. The fashion retailer reported 61 million pounds cash on the balance sheet. Boohoo.com saw 4.2 million active customers during the three months to May 31, a 30 percent increase from the same period a year ago.

“Profitability has improved as marketing expenditure, as a percentage of revenue, has been reduced, in line with our strategy of improving the customer proposition on to build customer lifetime value,” continued the joint Chief Executives. “We continue to broaden our product range, increase our fashion appeal and offer incredible prices. Active customer numbers, order frequency, basket size and conversion continue to climb. Our warehouse expansion programme continues with the fit‐out of three additional mezzanine floors nearing completion on and planning is underway for a new building on the adjacent site to meet our future capacity requirements.”

“We now expect sales growth for the financial year of between 25 percent and 30 percent. We expect EBITDA margins in line with last year although we will look at opportunities to drive incremental growth by investing in the customer proposition on and our international markets. We continue to execute on our strategy and refine our ecommerce platform to deliver a market‐leading shopping experience for fashionable product at incredible prices."

Photo: Boohoo, Facebook