AO World profits soar – much simpler, more efficient and performing better says founder John Roberts
White goods retailer AO World is aiming for double digit growth in 2025 alongside pre-tax profits of £36m to £41m.
The Bolton-based business reported a bullish set of annual results this morning recording profit before tax of £34.3m, up £22.3m from last year on top line sales of over £1billion.
Last year the board remove non-core channels and loss-making sales, which helped the return to growth in Q4, but saw a drop in overall revenue to £1,039,000,000 from £1,139,000 the previous year.
The strategic pivot to focus on profit and cash generation has been successfully delivered, founder John Roberts said, with continued focus on driving efficiencies and controlling overheads.
The company also boasted a 15% total market share of domestic appliance sales and over 600,000 new customers.
However, the results also revealed “difficult loss-making trading” experienced in AO’s mobile business in the year, but also that it is to push new sales channels to grow its mobile business, in a challenging market.
AO’s Founder and Chief Executive, John Roberts, said: “We have made good progress on our profit performance in FY24, which is a testament to the success of our strategic pivot to focusing on profit and cash generation.
“We are now a much simpler, more efficient business and are performing better than ever for customers, with excellent and sustainable unit economics.
“Our focus now is on delivering profitable top line growth with an ambition for double digit revenue growth in FY25.
“During the year we passed the milestone of 500,000 Trustpilot reviews, with an increased Trust score of 4.8 out of 5. This ranks AO as the leading and most trusted UK retailer for the combination of volume and quality and is an output of the amazing service we deliver every day for customers at scale.
“None of this has happened by accident. All AOers have worked tirelessly to deliver this performance and I would like to thank them all. As ever, I’m also extremely grateful to our suppliers, partners and shareholders for their ongoing support.”
