Boohoo annual profit nearly doubles

Online fashion retailer Boohoo.com said on Wednesday that profit in the year to 28 February nearly doubled as revenue surged following a "momentous" year.

Pre-tax profit jumped 97% to £30.9m as revenue increased 51% to £294.6m. In the UK, revenue was up 33%, while sales in Rest of Europe grew 50%. In the USA, revenue rose 140%, while Rest of World saw sales grow 40%.

Boohoo said 39% of its revenue was generated outside of the UK, up from 33% in 2016.

The group said it now has 5.2m active customers, up 29% in the last 12 months, while the number of website sessions grew by 21% to 249m. Meanwhile, order frequency has risen 3%, with customers placing an order on average 2.1 times in 12 months.

Joint chief executive officers 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.

"This year has also seen some major capital and infrastructure expenditure. We invested in a large warehouse extension and additional office space 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."

The company said trading in the first few weeks of the 2018 financial year has made a promising start.

Boohoo completed its £20m acquisition of US fashion website Nasty Gal in February and bought Pretty Little Thing earlier this year.

At 0840 BST, the shares were down 3.6% to 183.75p.