Boohoo.com joy at spectacular year-end performance

Remarkable success story

Manchester-based fast fashion retailer Boohoo.com is celebrating soaring year-end revenue and profits, as predicted by apparently leaked reports to the national business press at the weekend.

Turnover for the year ended February 28 climbed 51% to £294.6m (2016: £195.4m) while pre-tax profits grew 97% to £30.9m (2016: £15.7m).

The company reported a strong balance sheet with £58.4m in cash after capital expenditure, which included the £20m acquisition of  in the intellectual property of US company Nasty Gal out of bankruptcy.

During the period the company also acquired PrettyLittleThing – which has 1.3 million active customers – for £11.2m.

A statement released on behalf of join chief executives Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane, said: “It has been a momentous year for us, with strong results and the acquisitions of PrettyLittleThing on 3 January 2017 and the Nasty Gal brand on 28 February 2017.

“Both brands have huge potential and the acquisitions represent a step change in the size, structure and operation of the group. We are confident that our expertise combined with the strength and following of our new complementary brands will greatly enhance the group’s future growth and profitability.

“The boohoo brand has achieved outstanding revenue growth and increased profitability margins during the year. We continued to grow strongly in the UK, our largest market, whilst international growth exceeded our expectations, particularly in the USA. Our customer proposition is proving consistently appealing.

“PrettyLittleThing showed strong revenue growth in two months’ of profitable trading since acquisition.

“This year has also seen some major capital and infrastructure expenditure. We invested in a large warehouse extension and additional office space (in Burnley) to provide for our planned further growth and we have secured planning permission for the next stage of the warehouse expansion.

“We have also invested in a new website platform for boohoo, which has brought many improvements, including website flexibility and response times.

“Trading in the first few weeks of the 2018 financial year has made a promising start and we are excited about the prospects of our development into a multi-branded business.

“We expect group revenue growth approaching 50% over 2017, which includes growth from the recent acquisitions,  and a group EBITDA margin of approximately 10%.”

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