Smiles all round as Boohoo’s rising revenue trumps City forecasts
Online fashion retailer Boohoo bumped up its forecast for full-year sales growth this morning in the wake of better-than-expected revenues during the first half of 2018.
The PrettyLittleThing.com owner’s revenue hit £395m in the first six months of the year, marking a sharp 50 per cent rise compared with the same period in 2017. The results was also ahead of consensus forecasts for £383m.
The Aim-listed group said it now expects total sales to rise between 38 per cent and 43 per cent, rising slightly from the previous 35 per cent to 40 per cent range.
Burgeoning demand in areas such as the US have helped boost the fast-growing UK retailer's success, with international sales now making up 41 per cent of the group’s revenue.
Adjusted pre-tax profit also jumped 43 per cent to £35m.
In June the firm reported that sales had soared by more than 50 per cent in the previous three months compared with the year before amid a flurry of interest among millennial buyers.
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“Expectations were set high after the June update and fast-rising sales are already reflected in the Boohoo share price, even if the stock is available now at a big discount to the high set in the summer. Investors will be watching new man Lyttle’s plans for the next stage of growth very closely for signs that the expansion can continue,” according to Ed Monk, associate director of Fidelity Personal Investing.
Monk added: “Boohoo is showing rival fashion retailers the way when it comes to harnessing the power of social media….The arrival of Primark operations chief John Lyttle as chief executive next year suggests that the company now sees overseas markets as its next big step. The new boss’s massive pay deal depends on the plan coming off.”
Mahmud and Carole Kane, the joint chief executives of Boohoo, said: “All of our brands performed extremely well across all territories as we continue to gain market share. We achieved market-leading growth in all markets, with rest of Europe and the USA being particularly pleasing. Growth in the UK, our largest market, remains very strong.”