Boohoo.com lifts revenue guidance

Online fashion retailer Boohoo.com lifted its guidance for annual revenue growth following strong trading through Black Friday and into the Christmas season.

The company, whose acquisition of PrettyLittleThing completed earlier this month, now expects between 43% and 45% revenue growth in the year to 28 February 2017, up from previous guidance of 38% to 42%.

In the four months to the end of December, total revenue was up 55%, with revenue in the UK up 31%. Revenue in Europe was 63% higher on the year, while sales in the US and Rest of World were up 230% and 66%, respectively.

The gross margin was down 260 basis points to 53.1% and the company had 5.1m active customers, up 31% on the previous year.

Joint chief executive officers Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane said: “Trading in the four months to 31 December 2016 has been strong across all regions. Our strategy offering great pricing, enticing promotions and an ever-broader range of the latest fashion continues to drive growth and enhance customer lifetime value. In particular, sales momentum in the USA has continued robustly, helped by our strong customer proposition across the Black Friday weekend.”

PrettyLittleThing is expected to achieve revenue growth in excess of 150% for the year to 28 February 2017 while being broadly breakeven at EBITDA level. As a result, group revenue growth, including PrettyLittleThing, is expected to be between 46% and 48% and group EBITDA margin between 11% and 12%.