Sosandar narrows losses as margins improve

In the six months to 30 September, pre-tax losses narrowed to £659m from £1.3m in the same period a year earlier. Sosandar said this was thanks to an improvement in the gross margin, which rose to 62.2% from 55.4% and "continued careful cost management".

Revenue declined to £16.2m from £22.2m. This was put down to a transition away from price promotional activity outside of major scheduled sale events.

During the half, Sosandar opened its first four stores in the UK. It hailed "strong" trading across all stores, along with a "demonstrable" uplift in traffic to the website in areas where the stores are located.

Co-chief executives Ali Hall and Julie Lavington said: "The past six months have been incredibly important steps in Sosandar's development. We are now well on our way to becoming a true multichannel retailer following the opening of our first four stores during the half. Seeing the Sosandar brand on high streets, and the reaction we have received so far, validates our decision to give our customers more ways to shop with our brand.

"Post period end we signed an agreement with Next for our brand to be licensed to develop a homeware range, providing further validation of the strength of the Sosandar brand. This shows the leverage and brand equity that we have built and will allow us to broaden our reach into new audiences and enable existing customers to deepen their affinity to our brand.

"Trading in the second half of the financial year to date has been encouraging, across all our channels, as we head into peak season. In the lead up to Christmas we have seen extremely strong sales of occasionwear, knitwear, including knitted dresses, and denim."