AO sales growth hit by driver shortage
Online electrical retailer AO World saw its like-for-like sales increase by around 5% year-on-year in the six months to 30 September against strong comparatives during the first Covid-19 lockdown.
In the UK, revenues climbed by around 6% despite growth being impacted by the nationwide shortage of delivery drivers and disruption to global supply chain.
Meanwhile, revenue in Germany rose by approximately 3% in local currency.
On a two year like-for-like basis, revenues across the group were up around 66%, with sales rising by 63% in the UK and by 84% in Germany.
AO World now expects revenue growth in the second half of the year to be at a similar rate to that of the first half. It is also anticipating that full year group adjusted EBITDA will come in at between £35 million and £50 million, with profits more heavily weighted than usual towards the second half of the year.
The company added: “Whilst we continue to see industrywide issues relating to ongoing supply chain disruption, we have implemented measures to help mitigate these challenges in our logistics operations.
“Whilst the macro-outlook remains uncertain, we have confidence in the proven resilience of our business model and are well placed to meet customer demand in our peak third quarter sales period.”
