Shop Direct boosted by strong performance at Very
Shop Direct, the owner of Very.co.uk and Littlewoods.com, has seen its full year revenue rise by 1.5% to £1.95 billion following a strong performance at Very.
In the year to 30 June, operating profit before exceptional items climbed by 9.5% to £224.6 million while EBITDA rose by 11% to £262.3 million. However, the company has reported a statutory pre-tax loss of £24.7 million compared to a pre-tax profit of £24.9 million in the previous year after incurring costs to cover additional customer redress and the establishment of a new fulfilment centre.
Revenue at Very was up 9.9% to £1.4 billion in the period driven by strong customer recruitment, increased app penetration and growth in the retailer’s electrical and seasonal categories
Meanwhile revenue at Littlewoods fell by 14.5% to £569.7 million which Shop Direct attributed to the annualisation of the closure of a commission scheme in the prior year, and a “challenged furniture and homewares performance”.
Henry Birch, Shop Direct’s recently appointed group chief executive, said: “Four months into my role as CEO, I’m hugely excited by the potential of Shop Direct. Today we’re announcing results that show a good underlying performance in a competitive external market.
“Impressive growth in Very and increases in group revenue and EBITDA show the resilience of our business, which is mobile-first, multi-category, and both a retailer and a credit provider.”
The company said orders from its Very smartphone app climbed by 39.5% on the previous year to account for 25.4% of total orders across all devices. On average, app customers were found to visit the site twice as frequently as other customers and the app had a 10% better conversion rate compared with other sales channels.
Looking ahead to the busy Christmas trading period, Birch said the company is trading in line with expectations. He added: “It’s a changing and competitive market but our growth trajectory and differentiated customer offer gives us confidence for the year ahead.”
